Art Institute of Chicago

The Infants Jesus Christ and Saint John the Baptist Embracing

Joos van Cleve (Netherlandish, Active by 1507–1540/41)

Date

1520–25

Medium

Oil on panel

Culture

Holland

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

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 the powerful German banking firm of Fugger—along the upper edge.

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