Hendrick de Clerck - Presumed Self-Portrait as John the Apostle

The Contest between Apollo and Pan by Hendrik de Clerck Clerck Rijksmuseum Amsterdam SK-A-621

Aanbidding der koningen Hendrick De Clerck

Hendrick de Clerck (c. 1560 – 27 August 1630) was a Flemish painter active in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Stylistically he belongs to the late

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

generation of artists preceding

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradi ...

and the Flemish Baroque, and his paintings are very similar to his contemporary Marten de Vos.Vlieghe, p. 15. His exact date of birth is unknown, but in 1594 he is employed as

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

to Archduke

Ernest Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People * Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor * Ernest, ...

, a position he continued to hold in the service of the Archdukes

Albert Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Alber ...

and

Isabella Isabella may refer to: People and fictional characters * Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Isabella (surname), including a list of people Places United States * Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...

following Ernest's death in 1596.Laureyssens.

Altarpieces

Like Marten de Vos in Antwerp De Clerck was responsible for painting new altarpieces for churches in Brussels following the iconoclastic outbreaks of 1566, for which he used the clear visual language common in post-Tridentine Counter-Reformation art. Despite continuing to work through the early decades of the seventeenth-century, when the Baroque language was in full bloom, late works such as the ''Deposition'' for St. Peter's in Anderlecht (1628) are still decidedly Mannerist. His somewhat outmoded tendencies are also reflected in his frequent use of the

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided ...

format that had been popular with late

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

and

northern Renaissance The Northern Renaissance was the Renaissance that occurred in Europe north of the Alps. From the last years of the 15th century, its Renaissance spread around Europe. Called the Northern Renaissance because it occurred north of the Italian Renais ...

artists.

Cabinet paintings

De Clerck also specialized in small

cabinet painting A cabinet painting (or "cabinet picture") is a small painting, typically no larger than two feet (0.6 meters) in either dimension, but often much smaller. The term is especially used for paintings that show full-length figures or landscapes at a s ...

s depicting biblical,

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory t ...

and mythological subjects, which were collected by Brussels' aristocratic patrons.Vlieghe, pp. 109–111. Frequently he painted the figures, while collaborating with other artists, such as

Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman. He was the son of the eminent Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. A close friend and frequent collabora ...

and Denijs van Alsloot, for the landscapes and other features.

References

Sources

* Willy Laureyssens, "Clerck, Hendrik endrickde," ''Grove Art Online''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, ccessed 19 November 2007 * Hans Vlieghe (1998).
Flemish Art and Architecture, 1585–1700
', Pelican history of art. New Haven: Yale University Press. * Katharina Van Cauteren, 'Eight Unknown Designs by Hendrick de Clerck for Archduke Albert's Entry into Brussels in 1596', Simiolus, 2010, 1: 18–32. * Katharina Van Cauteren, 'Le printemps au milieu de l'hyver. Hendrick De Clerck (1560–1630) en het aartshertogelijke zelfbeeld tussen canon en propaganda', PhD dissertation, Leuven, 2010.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clerck, Hendrik de Flemish Mannerist painters 1630 deaths Flemish Baroque painters Court painters Year of birth unknown