Joos Van Cleve

The painter Joos van Cleve (c. 1485/90-1540/41) founded an important and influential workshop in Antwerp at the beginning of the sixteenth century. His business instinct and managerial character ensured that the shop ran smoothly and that there were both local and international clients for his output. More than 300 works are currently attributed to Van Cleve and his workshop. It is a remarkably large oeuvre, far exceeding that of any other contemporary Antwerp artist. The paintings that left his shop are of a superb quality and craftsmanship. Van Cleve and his assistants were responsible for lifelike portraits, altarpieces of varying sizes, and the mass production of popular devotional panels with subjects like The Holy Family, The Madonna of the Cherries and The Infants Christ and St John the Baptist Embracing. How, then, is it possible that these paintings are of such a high quality and craftsmanship? This book contains the answer. The international nature of Antwerp’s economy, and of its art trade in particular, made Joos van Cleve and his paintings known far beyond the confines of the Low Countries. Although the information about his life and the composition of his oeuvre was unclear for a long time, Joos van Cleve can now once again be numbered among the great successful painters of the early sixteenth century.