Portrait of a Male Donor

Petrus Christus

National Gallery of Art

A pale-skinned man with close-cropped, dark hair kneels near two steps leading from our interior space to a distant landscape in this vertical painting. He faces our right, almost in profile, and his dark hairline sits high on his forehead. He looks off to our right with hazel eyes over a long nose and a pale mouth. His voluminous black robe is trimmed with brown fur, and a red scarf drapes over his near shoulder. Two wooden clogs with black straps lie nearby, to our left. The floor under him is checkered in tan and ginger brown. Just beyond him are two brick-red steps flanked by a gray doorway to our right and a wall to our left. A rectangular shield, curved like a piece of paper curling forward, hangs from a strap on the wall to our left. The top half of the shield is scarlet red, and the bottom has gold, leafy designs against a caramel-brown background. The steps lead to an open courtyard. A three-story, brick building rises on the left side with an open wooden door at the ground level and two rows of windows above. Beyond a section of a crenellated brick wall is a hilly landscape studded with trees. The sky above fades from pale blue along the top edge of the painting to nearly white along the horizon.