Cleef, Jan Van
Cleef, Jan van
A Flemish painter, b. in Guelderland in 1646, d. at Ghent, 18 December, 1716. He was a pupil of Luigi Primo (Gentile) and Gaspard de Craeyer. When Craeyer died, Cleef was commissioned to complete his master’s work in the churches and to finish the cartoons for the tapestry ordered by Louis XIV. The churches and convents in Flanders and Brabant are rich in his paintings.
He was a splendid draughtsman, a good colourist celebrated for his management of drapery and for his charming portrayal of children’s heads and the attractive faces of his women. In a school pre-eminent in portraiture Jan held a high place. He accomplished a vast amount of work, all showing the influence of his masters and tending more to Italian than Flemish methods. His favourite subjects were Scriptural and religious, and his treatment of them was simple and broad. His masterpiece, “Nuns Giving Aid during the Plague”, in the convent of the Black Nuns, at Ghent, rivals the work of Van Dyck.
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For bibliography, see CLEEF, Joost Van.
LEIGH HUNT Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IVCopyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Cleef, Jan Van
an eminent Flemish painter, was born at Venloo, in Guelderland, in 1646, and studied under Primo Gentile, at Brussels, .and afterwards under Gaspar de Craver. He gained a great reputation, his works being very numerous in Flanders and in Brabalnt. In the Church of St. James, at Ghent, is a fine picture of The Assumption; in that of St. Nicholas, an excellent picture of Magdalene at the Feet of Christ; in that of St. Michael, an ingenious composition representing The Immaculate Conception, with Adam and Eve in the lower part of the picture. Van Cleef died at Ghent in 1716. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v. Spooner, Biog. Hist. of the Fine Arts, s.v.