Joos van Ghent (1430-1476), also known as Justus van Ghent or Joos van Wassenhove, was one of the few 15th-century Flemish painters known to have worked in Italy. Little is known of his early life, but documents indicate that he was admitted to the Antwerp Painters' Guild in 1460 and that four years later he was painting in Ghent.
While in Ghent, he became friends with Hugo van der Goes, whom he may have taught. Sometime after 1465 he went to Italy, where he was employed by the great Renaissance art patron Frederigo da Montefeltro, the duke of Urbino. Joos's work at Urbino reflects the influence of Netherlandish masters Rogier van der Weyden and Dirk Bouts but without the typical Flemish concern for realistic detail.
His “Communion of the Apostles” (1472-1474; National Gallery, Urbino) typifies his eclectic style, in which an Italianate feeling for monumentality and spatial harmony coexisted with Flemish precision and clarity.