Cornelis van Cleve

Cornelis van Cleve was the son of Joos van Cleve and trained in his father’s Antwerp workshop. He painted religious scenes, especially the Holy Family and the Virgin and Child, with soft, rounded figures that show the influence of Leonardo, Raphael and Andrea del Sarto.

He was born in Antwerp in 1520 and worked there for about fourteen years before moving to England around 1555, hoping for royal patronage. That hope failed, and he suffered from mental illness afterward, which earned him the nickname “Sotte Cleve”, once wrongly given to his father. His works were valued long after his career, and Rubens and King Charles I owned examples. Separating his paintings from his father’s is still debated.

In the Holy Family, look at the gentle faces and smooth modelling, a sign of his Italian influences.