Pieter Claeissens the Elder or Pieter Claeissens (I)Name variations: Pieter Claeissens, Petrus Moraulus, Pieter I Claeissens, Pieter Claeissins, Pieter I Claeis, Pieter I Claeiss, Pieter I Claeissins, Pieter I Claeis, Pieter I. Claeissins, Pieter I Claeissins, Pieter I Claeys, Pieter I. Claeissins (1500–1576) was a Flemish painter of history paintings, portraits and allegorical scenes.Pieter Claeissens (I)
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History He was the first prominent artist in an extended family of artists from

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

.Alexandra Zvereva, ''Gillis Claeissens Portrait of Joris Van Brakele, Lord of Courtebois, Hautrive and Moorslede''
Jean-Luc Baroni

Life

Pieter Claeissens the Elder was born in Bruges as the son of Alard Claeissens who was also a painter. He was registered as a pupil of Adriaan Bekaert at the

Guild of St. Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Four Evangelists, Evangelist Saint Luke, Luke, the patron sa ...

of Bruges in 1516. He was admitted as a master in 1530 and was dean of the Guild in 1572.Gwendoline Denhaene, ''Pieter Claeissens (I)''
in: Dictionnaire des peintres belges He married Marie Meese. Of their five sons, the four youngest would become artists: Gillis, Pieter and

Antoon Antoon is a Dutch masculine given name that is an alternate form of Antonius used in Belgium, Netherlands, Suriname, South Africa, Namibia, and Indonesia, a nickname and a surname. Antoon is also a transliteration of Arabic (), also spelt , and ty ...

became painters while Ambrosius became a master goldsmith. Pieter Claeissens (I) - The visitation

Is it possible for Claeissens to cooperate with Benson in the period that he is fully aged from around 1520 to his mastery in 1530? In any case, it could explain the share of Pieter I Claeissens in the Spanish export market of works of art, where Benson is the leading artist. Pieter Claeissens the Elder died in Bruges in 1576.

Work

Pieter Claeissens the Elder painted history paintings, portraits and allegorical scenes. The attributions of work to the artist have traditionally been difficult because of the lack of signed works. Only in 2003 was it proven that works signed 'Petrus Nicolai Moraulus' were actually by the hand of Pieter Claeissens the Elder. Five works that carried this signature had earlier been regarded as being by another painter because of the conservative style in which they were executed. The generally accepted view was that Pieter Claeissens would have worked in a more progressive style. The study of four of the five signed panels (the fifth painting has not been seen since 1951) has enabled art historians to form a coherent image of the painting technique and composition style of the artist. Research with infrared reflectography of two of his paintings allowed the study of the underdrawing by the artist and support certain attributions to the artist. The complex situation of various family members working in the same workshop has created additional problems of attribution of works to individual family members.Anne van Oosterwijk, ''Tentoonstelling Pieter Pourbus en de vergeten meesters''
Christus aan het kruis met Maria, Johannes en Maria Magdalena, circa 1567, Groeningemuseum, 0040166000

Christus aan het kruis met Maria, Johannes en Maria Magdalena, circa 1567, Groeningemuseum, 0040166000

Recently a number of works attributed to Pieter the Elders have been re-attributed to his son Gillis. This includes a triptych painted for Claeys van de Kerchove and his family as an epitaph for the family tomb in the church of St Catherine in Assebroek. The panels of the triptych executed in 1576 are now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, where they are still attributed to Pieter Claeissens the Elder. Among recent attributions to Pieter Claeissens the Elder are a number of works that were formerly attributed to

Ambrosius Benson Ambrosius Benson (, in Ferrara or Milan1550, in Flanders) was an Italian painter who became a part of the Northern Renaissance. While many surviving paintings have been attributed, there is very little known of him from records, and he tended no ...

such as, for example, the ''Holy Ursula'' (

Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias The Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias ( es, Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias) is a museum in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. It is situated within three buildings: the Palacio de Velarde, the House of Oviedo-Portal, and the House of Solís-Carbajal. T ...

). The kinship in a number of stylistic features between Claeissens and Benson and the resulting confusion between their oeuvres has given rise to the hypothesis that Pieter may have worked in the Benson workshop from 1520 to 1530 when he became a master in his own right. The Claeissens workshop produced works in which the influence of the painters

Adriaen Isenbrandt Adriaen Isenbrandt or Adriaen Ysenbrandt (between 1480 and 1490 – July 1551) was a painter in Bruges, in the final years of Early Netherlandish painting, and the first of the Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting of the Northern Renaissance. ...

and

who were active in Bruges as well as the modernizing tendencies of the Pieter Pourbus are transformed into a personal style. The figures and compositions are designed according to stereotyped and repetitive patterns that were successful in Bruges.

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Claeissens, Pieter 1 1500 births 1576 deaths Flemish history painters Flemish portrait painters Early Netherlandish painters Painters from Bruges