(b ?Baerle-Duc [now Baarle-Hertog], ?c.1410; d Bruges, 1475/6). Netherlandish painter, active in Bruges. He is first documented there in 1444 and was the leading artist in the city in the generation after Jan van Eyck, who died in 1441. Traditionally he has been regarded as Jan's pupil (and it has been suggested that he completed works the master left unfinished at his death), but it is now thought likely that he received his training elsewhere before arriving in Bruges. Nevertheless, he was strongly influenced by Jan and helped to spread his style. Christus's work is plainer and more summary, however, and his figures tend to be rather doll-like. The influence of Rogier van der Weyden is also evident in some of Christus's work: his Lamentation (c.