Petrus Christus was the leading painter of Bruges in the years following the death of Jan van Eyck in 1441. In this portrait of striking verisimilitude, the artist moves beyond the flat neutral backgrounds of portraits by his predecessor. Instead, Christus places his sitter in the corner of a warmly illuminated room. To enhance the illusion, a fly rests momentarily upon a fictive frame. The "carved" inscription below functions as a signature and a declaration; the sitter looks directly at the viewer and boldly states, "Petrus Christus made me in the year 1446."