Hendrick de Clerck
Hendrik de Clerck (before 1570–27 August 1630) was a Flemish painter active in Rome and Brussels during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Stylistically he belongs to the late Mannerist generation of artists preceding Peter Paul Rubens and the Flemish Baroque, and his paintings are very similar to his contemporary Marten de Vos.[1] In 1587 he was working with Frans van den Casteele in Rome,[1] and in 1594 was in Brussels as court painter to Archduke Ernest.[2] Following Ernest's death in 1596, De Clerck continued in the service of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella.[2]
Altarpieces
Like Marten de Vos in Antwerp, De Clerck was responsible for painting new altarpieces for churches in Brussels following the iconoclastic outbreaks of 1566.[1] He used the clear visual language common in post-Tidentine Counter-Reformation art.[1] Despite continuing to work through the early decades of the seventeenth-century, when the Baroque language was in full bloom, late works such as the Deposition for St. Peter's in Anderlecht (1628) are still decidedly Mannerist.[1] Many of his religious paintings are triptychs that recall a format popular with late Medieval and Northern Renaissance artists.
Cabinet paintings
De Clerck also specialized in small cabinet paintings depicting biblical, allegorical and mythological subjects that were popular with Brussels' aristocratic patrons.[3] These paintings are similar to works made by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Denijs van Alsloot, both of whom were collaborators with De Clerck.[3]
References
Sources
- W. Laureyssens, "Clerck, Hendrik [Hendrick] de," Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press, [accessed November 19, 2007].
- Hans Vlieghe (1998). Flemish Art and Architecture, 1585-1700, Pelican history of art. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300070381