The Virgin of the dry Tree

Petrus Christus was a 15th-century Flemish painter associated with the city of Bruges. His style relates to that of Jan van Eyck, from whom he derived his models while simplifying Van Eyck's compositional structures. His work also reveals a knowledge of Rogier van der Weyden in the organisation of the subjects and the expressivity of the figures. The subject of The Virgin of the dry Tree, which was first attributed to Christus by Grete Ring in 1919, is an uncommon one. It relates to the Confraternity of Our Lady of the dry Tree, to which the artist and his wife belonged. It is likely that a member of this confraternity would have commissioned the painting for the purpose of private devotion, or perhaps it was intended for the artist himself. In this small panel the painter symbolically depicts the message of Redemption through the reference to the dry tree in the Book of Ezekiel and hence to the notion of Mary as the New Eve. The tree has been interpreted as the Tree of Knowledge, which withered following the Original Sin then flowered again with the conception of Christ. The Infant Christ is shown as the Saviour of Mankind, holding the orb crowned with the cross.