Joos van Cleve
[van der Beke]
(b ?Cleve; d Antwerp, between 10 Nov
1540 and 13 April 1541).
He is mentioned in several Antwerp legal documents as
‘Joos van der Beke alias van Cleve’ and was most likely
born in either the city or the Lower Rhenish province of
Cleve. His first known teacher was Jan Joest, whom he
assisted in painting the wings of the high altar in the
church of St Nikolai, Kalkar (begun 1505, installed
1508; in situ). Bialostocki (1972) identified a
self-portrait of Joos in the Raising of Lazarus
panel of this altarpiece; there are also strong
similarities between the figures of Adam and Eve in the
background of the Presentation in the Temple
panel of this altarpiece and the earliest dated
paintings attributed to Joos, the Adam and Eve
altarpiece wings (1507; Paris, Louvre). These panels
also show the influence of the Bruges painters Hans
Memling and Gerard David, and although South
Netherlandish influences are found in Jan Joest and
other Lower Rhenish artists, it is possible that the
Adam and Eve formed part of an altarpiece
produced in Bruges. Most authors believe it possible
that Joos was active in Bruges from c. 1507. Two
portraits date from these early years: the Portrait
of a Man (1509; Germany, priv. col.; sold New York,
Sotheby’s, 7 June 1984, lot 13) and that of
Maximilian I (Vienna, Ksthist. Mus., on loan to
Vienna, Schatzkam.), for which a terminus ante quem
is provided by a dated replica (1510; Paris, Mus.
Jacquemart-André). The depiction of Maximilian holding a
pink may reflect a lost Netherlandish model from c.
1477–80.
