Bruges School, 16th Century

This striking image of Christ as Salvator Mundi ultimately stems from a design by Quentin Metsys in the Koninklijk Museum in Antwerp, which shows Christ bust-length. The composition was later extended to incorporate the orb divided into three sections (representing Europe, Asia and Africa), as in the present work, an example of which, ascribed to Metsys and Studio, is in the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh. This composition was so popular that it was copied by Joos van Cleve (Musée du Louvre, Paris) and his workshop, and spread to workshops beyond Antwerp.