1522
oil
panel
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
The Infants Jesus Christ and Saint John the Baptist Embracing is a 1522 oil by Joos van Cleve, a Renaissance work, depicting Putti, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
The painting shows two babies, Jesus and Saint John, hugging each other. The babies are posed in a way that looks like they're dancing. This pose is similar to ones used by Italian painters, but the details in the background are more like Northern European art. Check out the work of artist Joos van Cleve to see more of this style.
Joos van Cleve sold many versions of this painting to an international clientele eager for luxury goods. To suit the taste of his customers, Van Cleve learned to adapt the ideal forms of the Italian Renaissance to a Northern European context. Here, the poses and modeling of the intertwined children are indebted to the Italian painter Leonardo da Vinci, while the elaborate metalwork accents and costly materials comprising the architec- ture are characteristic of Northern European art. This particular painting includes the arms of its first owner— Pompejus Occo, the Amsterdam representative of…
Pompejus Occo (died 1537), Amsterdam. Spanish Art Gallery, London, 1949; sold to French and Co., New York, 1949 [according to Robert Samuels of French and Co., in conversation with Martha Wolff, March 31 and April 7, 1989]; sold to Ernest Joresco, Chicago, 1963 [according to Samuels, this took place on Dec. 21, 1963]; sold to the Art Institute, 1975.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Leonardo da Vinci Loan Exhibition, 1949, cat. 34. The Art Institute of Chicago, New Light on Old Masters: Research on Northern European and Spanish Paintings before 1600 in the Art Institute, 26 June—14 September 2008, no cat.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Joos van Cleve (; also Joos van der Beke; c. 1485–1490 – 1540/1541) was a leading painter active in Antwerp from his arrival there around 1511 until his death in 1540 or 1541. Within Dutch and Flemish Renaissance…
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