While this Flemish painter’s birthplace has yet to be identified, he is thought to be of Rhenish origin, from the city of Cleves. He must have been born around 1480 and may have received his early training in Bruges. The abundant presence of his works in Genoa and the coincidence of his surname with that of Filippo de Cleve, Lord of Ravenstein and governor of Genoa between 1501 and 1506, suggest he may have lived in Italy during those years, specifically in Liguria. By 1511, he was in Antwerp, where he entered the Guild of Saint Luke as an independent master in 1519. In 1525, he was elected dean of that guild, which ensured his prestige. He was still in Antwerp in 1540, where he died immediately after drawing up his will.

His rather eclectic style drew on many of his predecessors and contemporaries, although it also reveals an evident personality and clear advances towards the Renaissance. Works by his hand were long attributed to a “Master of the Death of the Virgin”, who is clearly Van Cleve, as his 1515 triptych on this subject at the Museum in Cologne is unanimously considered his work today.

Besides his religious compositions, which sometimes resemble works by Flemish painter Quentin Massys, he painted portraits, and his importance in that genre led King François I to invite him to court at Fontainebleau some time after 1530, where he made significant works. He probably visited the court of Henry VIII, in England, as well.

His portraits convey his powerful personality and they also reveal his contact with the German painter Hans Holbein. An abundance of paintings by his workshop – his most successful compositions were frequently repeated – indicates he had a broad circle of collaborators, including, of course, his children.

Alfonso Pérez Sánchez