The Exeter Madonna by Petrus Christus: Devotional Portrait and Spiritual ascent in Early Netherlandish Painting

Depicting a Carthusian monk (identified with Jan Vos, prior of the charterhouses of Bruges and Utrecht) kneeling in prayer in front of the Virgin and Child, Petrus Christus’ Exeter Madonna perfectly illustrates how the structuration of pictorial space endows paintings that include devotional portraits with a dynamic dimension, which bears an essential role in the spiritual meaning and function of such images. The aim of this article is to show that by bringing together the worldly sphere below in the background and the sacred space in the foreground, where the Virgin welcomes the devotee, the Exeter Madonna can be understood as a visualisation of the spiritual ascent of Jan Vos. In order to do so, the visual structure of the painting is closely analysed, before being confronted to devotional texts dealing with the theme of the spiritual ascent (such as De spiritualibus ascensionibus of Gerard Zerbolt of Zutphen) that Jan Vos knew. Secondly, this devotional painting is replaced within its context, namely the charterhouses of Utrecht and Bruges and the Carthusian spirituality in order to demonstrate that together with books, such images played a crucial role in the meditative practices of Carthusian monks.