CLEVE, van, Flemish family of painters

Flemish family of painters and draughtsmen. They moved to Antwerp from Cleve in the late 15th century or the early 16th. Hendrick van Cleve I (active 1489-1519) was registered as a master in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke in 1489-90 and in 1519-20 took Jan Sanders van Hemessen as his pupil. Any kinship between Hendrick I and Willem van Cleve I (active 1518-1543), who became a master in 1518, is uncertain. Van Mander described a Hendrick van Cleve as the patriarch of the family and added that he joined the guild in 1533 and later collaborated with Frans Floris and his own brother Marten; but he clearly confused Hendrick II (who joined the Guild of St Luke in 1534) with Hendrick van Cleve III (c. 1525-c. 1589), one of the three sons of Willem I, all of whom joined the Guild in 1551-52, probably after the death of their father, in whose studio they had been working. Hendrick III and Marten van Cleve I (c. 1527-c. 1581) both joined Floris's workshop. The third brother, Willem the younger (1530/35-before 1560), left no children.




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