Hendrick van Cleve III

Engraved portrait of Hendrick van Cleve by Simon Frisius, published c. 1610

Hendrick or Hendrik van Cleve III (Antwerp, ca. 1525 - between 1590 and 1595)^[1][2] was a Flemish painter and engraver. He was the son and pupil of Willem van Cleve the Elder, and the elder brother of Marten van Cleve the Elder and of Willem Van Cleve the Younger.^[1] He is called "the third" to differentiate him from Hendrik van Cleve I (registered as a master of the Guild of St. Luke 1489/90) and Hendrick II (Guild of St. Luke, 1534), about whom little else is known.^[1]

Hendrick III went to Italy when young, and returned to his native country a good painter of landscapes. His pictures are distinguished by an uncommon lightness of touch, and an excellent tone of colour. The backgrounds of the historical works of his brother Marten and of Frans Floris are frequently painted by this artist, and are harmonized with the figures with great intelligence. In the Belvedere at Vienna is the 'History of the Prodigal Son' by him. He was received into the Guild of St. Luke at Antwerp in 1551.

Hendrick van Cleve distinguished himself as an engraver. Several of his plates survive of landscapes and views near Rome, after his own designs or those of Melchior Lorch, which he sometimes signed Henricus Clivensis, fecit, and sometimes marked with a cipher.

A series of thirty-eight plates by this artist, entitled Ruinarum varii prospectus, ruriumque aliquot delineationes, published by Theodoor Galle. He died at Antwerp between 1590 and 1595.

His son, another Hendrick van Cleve, who was born at Antwerp, settled about 1597 at Ghent, where he was much esteemed, but his works are now confounded with those of his father. He died at Ghent in 1646.

Works

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  The Construction of the Tower of Babel

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  Ideal View of an Ancient Seaport

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  The Harbour at Naples, from Ruinarum Varii Prospectus Ruriumque Aliquot Delineationes

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  Ruins by the Sea

References

1. Van de Velde, Carl (2003). "Hendrik van Cleve (III)" ((subscription or UK public library membership required)). Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 5 November 2014. (subscription required (help)).
2. In his Schilder-boeck, Karel van Mander gives a date of death of 1589, but existing documents prove Hendrick was alive in 1590 but had died by 1595. See entry at Oxford Art Online.

This article incorporates text from the article "CLEEF, Hendrik Van" in Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers by Michael Bryan, edited by Robert Edmund Graves and Sir Walter Armstrong, an 1886–1889 publication now in the public domain.

External links

• Prints of Rome from Ruinarum Varii Prospectus, Ruriumque Aliquot Delineationes at Harvard Art Museums (search Hendrick van Cleve) (zoomable)