Jan van Cleef

Jan van Cleef ( January 1646 in Venlo , † December 18, 1716 in Ghent ) was a Dutch painter.

Jan van Cleef was baptized on January 6, 1646 in the Catholic Church of St. Martin in Venlo. According to the traditions of the time, baptism took place no longer than three days after the birth. Jan van Cleef was an illegitimate child of Elisabeth Jansen and Gabriël van Cleef. His father was stationed in Venlo as captain of the Spanish troops from 1637 .

After attending the Latin School in Venlo, he studied with the painter Gaspar de Crayer in Brussels . In 1664 he went to Ghent with de Crayer . On May 13, 1668 he finished his apprenticeship and opened his own studio. After de Crayer's death, van Cleef completed several of the master's paintings and received several commissions for altarpieces from numerous parishes and monasteries. With these works he earned a reputation and in 1677 became a member of the artists' guild.

On June 6, 1681, he married the wealthy pharmacist's daughter Johanna vanden Driesche. Of their five children, only one daughter and one son reached adulthood. In the years 1682–1670 Jan van Cleef delivered several paintings for the Ghent town hall. In addition, he received orders from other cities (including: Rijssel , Ath , Aalst , Brussels , Bruges ), including from his hometown Venlo . The painting St. George and the Dragon (1693) is now in Limburg's Museum in Venlo. At the beginning of the 18th century, the painter's popularity declined, which was reflected in the declining number of commissions that caused the French military operations in the Netherlands and the new currents in art. No significant works by Van Cleef are known from the period after 1708. He gave up painting completely after 1713. With his death the era of historical Flemish painting of the 17th century came to an end.

Jan van Cleef was buried on December 20, 1716 in St. Michael's Church (Sint-Michielskerk) in Ghent. The hometown of Venlo honored Jan van Cleef as the famous son of the city with a stone medallion on the portal of the town hall.

Web links

• Limburgs Museum Venlo: Biogram of Jan van Cleef [1] ; Information on the works of van Cleef with inventory [2] ; Information on the painting St. George and the Dragon [3]

• Biogram in Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, Vol. 3, Leiden 1914, p. 234 [4]

• Biogram in Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, New York 1913, p. 10 [5]

• Jan van Cleef as a medallion on the town hall in Venlo (the first person from the right) [6] [7]