Joos van Cleve

Joos van Cleve (/ˈkleɪvə/;^[1] also Joos van der Beke; c. 1485–1490 – 1540/1541) was a leading painter active in Antwerp from his arrival there around 1511 until his death in 1540 or 1541. Within Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, he combines the traditional techniques of Early Netherlandish painting with influences of more contemporary Renaissance painting styles.^[2]

An active member and co-deacon of the Guild of Saint Luke of Antwerp, he is known mostly for his religious works and portraits, some of royalty. He ran a large workshop, with at least five pupils and other assistants, which produced paintings in a variety of styles over his career.^[3] As a skilled technician, his art shows sensitivity to color and a unique solidarity of figures.^[4] His style is highly eclectic: he was one of the first to introduce broad world landscapes in the backgrounds of his paintings, sometimes collaborating with Joachim Patinir, which would become a popular technique of sixteenth century northern Renaissance paintings. Some works reflect the popular style of Antwerp Mannerism, while others are variations on early Netherlandish masters of two or more generations before, or reflect recent Italian painting.^[5]

Four of his more important paintings have the

He was the father of Cornelis van Cleve (1520–1567) who also became a painter, and inherited the workshop.^[9] Cornelis became mentally ill during a residence in England and was therefore referred to as 'Sotte Cleef' (mad Cleef).^[7][10]

Joos van Cleve was born around 1485–90. The birthplace of Joos van Cleve is not precisely known. In various Antwerp legal documents he is referred to as 'Joos van der Beke alias van Cleve'. It is therefore likely that he came from the Lower Rhenish region or city named Kleve (in traditional English "Cleves"), from which his name is derived. It is assumed that he began his artistic training around 1505 in the workshop of Jan Joest, whom he assisted in the panel paintings of the wings for the high altar of the Nikolaikirche in Kalkar, Lower Rhine, Germany,^[11] from 1506 to 1509. These include one of his self-portraits. From this a birth date of about 1485 to 1490 is inferred.^[12]

Joos van Cleve is believed to have moved to Bruges between 1507 and 1511 since his painting style is similar to that of the painters of Bruges.^[10] Later he moved to Antwerp, and in 1511 became a free master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. He was co-deacon of the guild for several years around 1520, along with registering pupils there at various dates between 1516 and 1536.^[7] In 1528 he bought a house from his wife's parents. As there are no records of his being in Antwerp between 1529 and 1534, it is possible he spent some of this time in Italy or France at the court, or even London.^[13][10]

From surviving documents it is clear that he was alive in Antwerp on 10 November 1540 and dead by 4 February 1541.^[14]

He had two children from his first marriage, a daughter and a son. His son named Cornelis (1520) became a painter. Although the date of his death is unknown, Joos van Cleve drew up a will and testament on 10 November 1540, and his second wife was listed as a widow in April 1541.^[7]

There are a number of other "van Cleef" Antwerp painters recorded from his time, some of whom may have been relatives.

Compositions were often copied, repeated or adapted; for example at least six versions of an Adoration of the Magi triptych composition by him and his workshop are known, though varying considerably in size, with the widths of the centre panel ranging from 56 to 93 cm.^[9] This probably reflected different intended sites for the paintings, from private house chapels to churches.^[15]

Numerous paintings contain

In January 2021 an episode the BBC Four series Britain's Lost Masterpieces, centred on the fine art collection of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, uncovered a work of Joos van Cleve, a portrayal of Balthazar, previously attributed to Bernard van Orley. The painting had once been the left-hand door of a folding altarpiece triptych.^[17][18]

• 
  Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden's figures (Prado), given a landscape background.^[19]
• 
  The Last Judgment, oil on panel, 123.8 cm (48.7 in) high
• 
  Salvator Mundi, c.1516-18, Louvre
• 
  Annunciation; Italianate figure style, with the Early Netherlandish domestic setting of works such as the Mérode Altarpiece of Robert Campin, c. 1525
• 
  Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
• 
  Portrait of

  Eleonore of Austria

  , Queen of France, c. 1530

Artistic influences

The influence of Kalkar and Bruges are seen in many of Joos van Cleve's early works, such as Adam and Eve (1507). The Death of the Virgin (1520) shows the combined influence of several artists. It has the intense emotionality of Hugo van der Goes, and iconographic ideas of Jan van Eyck and Robert Campin. A strong influence of Italian art combined with Joos van Cleve's own color and light sensitivity make his works especially unique. The "Antwerp Mannerist" style is identifiable in the Adoration of the Magi. It is thought that the "Antwerp Mannerists" were in turn influenced by Joos van Cleve.

Like Quentin Matsys, a fellow artist active in Antwerp, Joos van Cleve appropriated themes and techniques of Leonardo da Vinci. This is apparent in the use of sfumato in the Virgin and Child. Multiple versions of a soft, sentimental Madonna and Child and the Holy Family were discovered, produced in his workshop.^[7]

Royal portraits

Joos van Cleve's skills as a portrait artist were highly regarded as demonstrated by a summons to the court of

Boulogne on 21 and 29 October 1532, which Joos might possibly have witnessed. Other historians have proposed the alternative view that van Cleve based the Henry VIII portrait on that of Francis I without meeting the English king. He may have hoped that this gesture might earn him English royal commissions in future.^[20]

Virgin and Child and Holy Family

Small devotional pictures of the

• 
  Madonna and Sleeping Child in a Landscape, 1515–1520
• 
  Genoa, Palazzo Bianco
• 
  Leonardo-esque Madonna of the Cherries, Berlin, c. 1525
• 
  Fitzwilliam Museum, c. 1525–30
• 
  With wine-drinking Child, sold Sotheby's, 2014
• 
  The Virgin in Prayer,

  Minneapolis Institute of Arts
• 
  The Virgin in Prayer, Yale
• 
  Another Holy Family type found in many versions

• 
  Saint Jerome in Penitence
• 
  The second type described here
• 
  Saint Jerome in His Study, 1528, Princeton, with HOMO BULLA ("Man is a bubble") on the wall.
• 
  In his study, with a rock

• The Holy Family (1515), Akademie der bildenden Kunste, Vienna
• Saint Reinhold Altar (before 1516),
  National Museum, Warsaw
• Descent from the Cross (c. 1517–20), Philadelphia Museum of Art[26]
• Triptych. Centre: the Deposition from the Cross; Left wing: St John the Baptist with a Donor; Right wing: St Margaret of Antioch with a Donatrix (1518–1519), National Galleries Scotland, Edinburgh^[27]
• Self-Portrait (1519), Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
• The Death of the Virgin (1520), Alte Pinakothek, Munich
• Man with the Rosary (1520), National Museum of Serbia^[28]
• Altarpiece of the Lamentation (1520–25), Musée du Louvre, Paris
• Lucretia (1520–25), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna^[29]
• Madonna of the Cherries (c1525), Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol, UK.
• St. John the Evangelist on Patmos (1525), University of Michigan Museum of Art,
  Ann Arbor
• Portrait of a Man and Woman (1520 and 1527), Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
• The Annunciation [1] (1525), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• The Infants Christ and Saint John the Baptist Embracing (1525–30), Art Institute, Chicago
• Adoration of the Magi (1526–28), Gemaldegalerie, Dresden
• Saint Jerome in his Study (1528), Vassar College, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
• Portrait of Eleonora, Queen of France (1530), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
• Virgin and Child (1535), Landesmuseum, Oldenburg
• Madonna and Child against the renaissance background (c. 1535),
  Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów, Warsaw