Petrus Christus (Netherlandish, active 1444 - 1475/76), A Goldsmith in his Shop, 1449. Oil on oak panel, 39 3/8” x 33 3/4” Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
15th-century Netherlandish painting is nothing if not meticulously detailed, and Petrus Christus, the leading painter in Bruges (Flanders) after the death of Jan van Eyck, was an absolute master of this craft. Works like Christus’ Goldsmith in his Shop (1449) offer an opportunity for close looking as well as a feast for the eyes. With its jeweled colors and dazzling application of oil paint, this fascinating panel painting tantalizes us as much with its illusionistic appearance as it does the possibility of unlocking the mystery of its many symbols.
In it, a seated goldsmith in red is depicted in his stall fashioning a ring for a richly-dressed betrothed couple who stand closely behind him (By the way, the woman’s sumptuous brocade gown is not actually painted with gold, but seems as if it were). Behind them is a paned window, a green velvet curtain, and to one side is a shelf of silver vessels atop another displaying precious items, including jeweled and metallic objects as well as exotic branches of coral. On the ledge in front of the goldsmith is a girdle or belt (that extends out into the viewer’s space), an allusion to matrimony, and a scale upon which he weighs the wedding ring, to which the woman seems to be gesturing. The painting was likely created as a portrait of the vocation of goldsmithing or even a specific goldsmith, intended to highlight his virtuosity, ability to cater to wealthy clients, and produce both secular and ecclesiastical wares. Another major element in the picture is the convex mirror in the lower right corner, parallel to the wall of the stall. Itself a brilliant pictorial conceit, the mirror ostensibly reveals the streetscape outside, connecting the interior and exterior spaces. Reflected, in miniature, are two slightly shady young men with a falcon (a symbol of pride or greed) with townhouses behind them. Though their relation to the overall narrative is not entirely clear, the outdoor pair seem to provide a strong moral contrast to the “virtuous” couple indoors, who seem to embody rectitude, fidelity, and piety.