Franz Cleyn

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Francesco Cleyn by Thomas Chambers

Franz Cleyn also Franz de Cleyn (* 1582 in Rostock ; † 1658 in London ) was a German painter, draftsman, etcher and tapestry artist in the Danish and English service.

Bratislavske tapestry 1.jpg
17th-century tapestries in the Primate's Palace, Bratislava, Slovakia - 20140723-03.JPG
Tapestries with the story of Hero and Leander , designed by Cleyn in the 1630s, made in Mortlake, can be seen in the Primate's Palace in Bratislava, Slovakia

Life

Franz Cleyn was the son of a Rostock goldsmith. After basic craft training, he came to the court of King Christian IV of Denmark in Copenhagen in 1599 . In 1600 he painted a portrait of the king. In 1611 he was appointed court painter and, among other things , was busy with the redevelopment of Rosenborg Castle , for example, he made ceiling paintings, wall paintings, large pictures, cardboard boxes for making table rugs and portraits of the royal family. A four-year educational trip took him to Italy, where he stayed particularly in Rome and Venice. In 1617 he received the citizenship of Copenhagen.

Cleyn went to England in 1624, with letters of recommendation from Sir Robert Anstruther, Ambassador Extraordinary of England to the Danish court, and from Sir Henry Wotton , the then British Ambassador to the Republic of Venice, to England to see Charles , at the time Prince of Wales. As this was out of the country, he was selected by James I received. He saw in him exactly the man he needed for the new tapestry factory that he had set up under Sir Francis Crane in Mortlake near London, the Mortlake Tapestry Works . Since Cleyn had to return to Denmark to finish some work, but James I wanted to bring him to England, he wrote personally to the Danish king and asked for his release. The application was approved and Cleyn returned to England and entered the service of Prince Charles. He was immediately employed in Mortlake. At Charles's accession to the throne in 1625, he rewarded Cleyn with a pension of £ 100 a year and built him a residence near the manufactory. In addition to his tapestry designs, he was also active in the design of castles ( Somerset House , Wimbledon Manor House, Carew House and Holland House ). James I. gave u. a. the commission to copy five of the seven original caricatures of Raphael from the Acts of the Apostles , which he had acquired, under Cleyn's direction and to reproduce them as tapestries. In the design of the grotesques and other ornaments in these works, Cleyn seemed to be unrivaled. Much admired, he was referred to as the second Titian and as "il famosissimo pittore, miracolo del secolo". With the beginning of the English Civil War there was a collapse in Cleyn's prosperity, as the royal donations were canceled. He was now mainly concerned with etchings and the design of book illustrations, which he had already started around 1630.

The tapestries and other productions of the Mortlake Manufactory were particularly valued in France and were distributed across the continent. Today there are several tapestries in the Primate's Palace in Bratislava that depict the story of Hero and Leander . The Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen owns several large-format works with a religious content, such as the representation of Jesus in the temple and the baptism of Christ or the engagement.

Works (selection)

  • Tapestries Perseus and Andromeda , Hero and Leander , Royal Horses
  • The five senses (Quinque Sensuum Descriptio), panels in the form of grotesques
  • Book illustrations on Virgil (engraved by Wenzel Hollar ), on the fables of Aesop and Ovid's Metamorphoses
  • Draft of the large state seal for King Charles I.
  • En trolovelse (an engagement), oil on canvas, 183 × 308 cm (H × W)
  • En drengeskole (a boys' school), oil on canvas, 236 × 311.5 cm
  • Fremstillingen af ​​Jesus i Templet og Kristi dåb (Presentation of Jesus in the temple and baptism of Christ), oil on canvas, 182 × 307.5 cm

gallery

  • Hearing (auditus)

  • Taste (Gustus)

  • Smell (odor)

  • Keys (tactus)

  • Vision

  • The five senses - title page
    (Quinque Sensuum Descriptio)

  • En trolovelse

  • En drengeskole

  • Strangers to Jesus i Templet and Kristi dåb

  • Perseus and Andromeda

literature

Web links

Commons : Francis Cleyn  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Lionel Henry Cust: Clein, Francis. In: Dictionary of National Biography. See literature.
  2. ↑ "il famosissimo pittore, miracolo del secolo" "the famous painter, miracle of the century"
  3. ^ Title Plate, from Quinque Sensuum. Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York City
personal data
SURNAME Cleyn, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cleyn, Franz de; Clein, Franz; Klein, Franz; Cleyn, Frantz; Cleyn, Francesco; Cleyn, Francis; Clein, Frantz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, draftsman, etcher and tapestry artist in Danish and English service
DATE OF BIRTH 1582
PLACE OF BIRTH Rostock
DATE OF DEATH 1658
Place of death London