:: LA PINACOTECA ::
 
CLEVE, Joos van
 
Joos van Cleve (Joose van der Beke) Netherlandish painter, born presumably at Cleves in the lower Rhine region and active mainly in Antwerp, where he became a master painter in 1511. He is identified with the Master of the Death of the Virgin. He was dean of the painters' guild in 1515 and 1525 and seems to have been one of the most productive Antwerp painters of his time, but his career is ill-defined. There is a flavour of Leonardo in some of his works, and he may have visited Italy. The dispassionate realism of his portraits owes something to the influence of Quentin Massys, but wide stylistic differences are apparent in his work as a whole.

Almost certainly he worked in France and there are several portraits of Francis I and his wife attributed to him, as is a portrait of Henry VIII of England (Royal Collection, Windsor). He collaborated with Joachim Patenier: a Rest on the Flight into Egypt (Musées Royaux, Brussels) is possibly a joint work. Joos's son, Cornelis van Cleve (1520-67), was also a painter. He was known as 'Sotte Cleve' (Mad Cleve) after becoming insane in 1554 - a result of failing to win the post of Court Painter to Philip II of Spain.
 
 
Virgin and Child
c. 1535
Wood, 75,5 x 54,5 cm
Landesmuseum, Oldenburg
  The Death of the Virgin
1520
Oil on wood, 132 x 154 cm
Alte Pinakothek, Munich
     
 
Adoration of the Magi
1526-28
Oak, 251 x 185 cm
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
  Virgin and Child
Wood, 52,5 x 42 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
     
 
Death of the Virgin
Oak, 63 x 123,5 cm
Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne
  Portrait of a Man and Woman
1520 and 1527
Oil on wood, 57 x 42 cm (each)
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
     
 
Altarpiece of the Lamentation (central)
Oil on wood, 145 x 206 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris
  Altarpiece of the Lamentation (detail)
Oil on wood, 45 x 206 cm (entire predella)
Musée du Louvre, Paris
     
 
Altarpiece of the Lamentation (detail)
Oil on wood, 45 x 206 cm (entire predella)
Musée du Louvre, Paris
  Portrait of Anthonis van Hilten
Oil on oak, 40 x 29 cm
Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede
     
 
The Holy Family
Oil on canvas transferred from wood, 42,5 x 31,5 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
  ortrait of Eleonora, Queen of France
c. 1530
Oil on wood, 35,5 x 29,5 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
     
 
Portrait of Agniete van den Rijne
Oil on oak, 40 x 29 cm
Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede
  St Anne with the Virgin and Child and St Joachim
Wood, 109 x 74 cm
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels