Jan van Cleef
Jan van Cleef (* January 1646 in Venlo, † December 18, 1716 in Ghent ) was a Dutch painter.
Jan van Cleef was baptized on January 6, 1646 in the Catholic Church of Saint Martin in Venlo. In line with the former traditions, the baptism took place after the birth of not more than three days. Jan van Cleef was an illegitimate child of Elisabeth Jansen and Gabriël VanCleef. His father stationed since 1637 as captain of the Spanish troops in Venlo.
After attending the Latin school in Venlo, he became a student of the painter Gaspar de Crayer in Brussels. In 1664 he went with de Crayer to Ghent. On May 13 1668 he finished the teaching and opened his own studio. After the death of de Crayer 's van Cleef completed several paintings by the master and received several orders for altarpieces by numerous parishes and monasteries. With this work, he earned a reputation and was in 1677 a member of the Artists Guild.
On June 6, 1681 he married the wealthy pharmacist daughter Johanna Vandendriesche. Of their five children only one daughter and one son survived to adulthood. In the years 1682-1670 Jan van Cleef delivered several paintings for the Ghent Town Hall. In addition, he received orders from other cities (including: Rijssel, Ath, Aalst, Brussels, Bruges), also from the hometown Venlo. The painting of St. George and the Dragon ( 1693) is now in Limburg Museum in Venlo. At the beginning of the 18th century the popularity of the painter took off, which was reflected in the declining number of jobs that caused the French military operations in the Netherlands and also the new currents in art. For the period after 1708 no major works van Cleef 's are known. The painting he gave in 1713 completely. With his death, the era of the historical Flemish painting of the 17th century came to an end.
Jan van Cleef was buried on 20 December 1716 in St. Michael's Church (Sint - Michielskerk ) in Ghent. The home town of Venlo honored Jan van Cleef as the famous son of the city with a stone medallion at the portal of the town hall.