Joos van Cleve

In the early 16th century, Belgian artist Joos van Cleve weaved Italian Renaissance painterly sensibilities into his Northern Renaissance works. Van Cleve’s name was lost and forgotten from the 17th century until the very end of the 19th century, but art historians studied his work nonetheless; they attributed his oeuvre to “the Master of the Death of the Virgin,” named for one of his most notable works. Art historians were able to identify van Cleve’s works without knowing his name because of his unique painting style that combined the iconography and bright color palettes of Northern painters like Jan van Eyck and Robert Campin with high contrasting shadows and the soft sfumato technique of Italian painters like Leonardo da Vinci. Van Cleve is thought to be the main influence of the small school of painters known as the Antwerp Mannerists, whose style is identified by similar use of color and contrast.