The influence of Flemish art was a shared feature among the wide variety of artistic styles and regional schools within 15th-century Spanish art. This influence led to the creation of a new, characteristically Spanish style that prevailed in the second half of the 15th century known as Hispano-Flemish art. The Catholic Kings played an important role within the development of this trend, reflecting their own artistic preference for the realist art of Flanders. Artists such as Juan de Flandes and Michiel Sittow, both in the service of the Crown, fulfilled the royal requirements for portraiture at the end of the century
Petrus Christus, Portrait of a Young Girl, c. 1465–70. 29 cm × 22.5 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Portrait of a Young Girl is a small oil-on-oak panel painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Petrus Christus. It was completed towards the end of his life, between 1465 and 1470,[1][2] and is held in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. It marks a major stylistic advance in contemporary portraiture; the girl is set in an airy, three-dimensional, realistic setting,[3] and stares out at the viewer with a complicated expression that is reserved, yet intelligent and alert.[4]
It is widely regarded as one of the most exquisite portraits of the Northern Renaissance. Art historian Joel Upton described the sitter as resembling “a polished pearl, almost opalescent, lying on a cushion of black velvet.”[5] The panel builds on the work of Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, and was highly influential in the decades after its completion. Its appeal lies in part in her intriguing stare, accentuated by the slight misalignment of her eyes, while the eyebrows are faintly skewed.[6]
