CLEVE. — Two painters of this name. The year of the birth of Joos van C. (Joos van der Beke) the Elder is unknown; he died at Antwerp in 1540. This painter, hitherto known as the “Master of the Death of Mary,” travelled in Italy around 1528. He was therefore in Paris in 1529 (for works for Francis I) and in England in 1536 (as a portrait painter).
After initially being influenced by the school of Bruges (David, Memling, Patinir), C. played an active role in the development of the Antwerp school of painting during the first half of the sixteenth century. His compositions with sacred subjects generally display an Italianizing eclecticism and appear rich in ornament, with studies of ancient architecture, polychrome marbles, etc.; the recollection of Leonardo and Raphael is often evident. He was already mentioned by Guicciardini. His works are in Munich, Paris, Dresden, Brussels, Berlin, Vienna, Frankfurt, etc.; in Italy, there are works in Florence (Uffizi), Naples (Museum), Modena (Gallery), and especially Genoa (triptych in S. Donato, from around 1514, and paintings in private collections); the Adoration of the Magi in Dresden (from S. Luca d’Erbe, after 1525) and the Deposition in the Louvre (from S. Maria della Pace, around 1530) also came from Genoa. Famous is the Portrait of Cardinal Clesio in the Corsini Gallery in Rome, which recalls Holbein himself.
Joos van C. the Younger, born at Antwerp between 1510 and 1520, died in London around 1554. Active especially at the Courts of France and England.