A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF
CLOCK, NicoLAAS, or Claas, a Dutch engraver,
was born at Leyden about the year 1670. Acconi-
ing to Heinecken, he was a disciple of Frans Floria.
His style resembles that of Cornelis Cort, with-
out being nearly equal to that master. We have
by him the following prints :
The Four Elements; represented in half-length figures. 1597. The Judgment of Midas ; after Karel van Mander. 1589.
CLOET. See Clouet.
CLOSE, Samuel, a native of Dublin, was an en- graver, who was deaf and dumb, and of intemperate habits. He died in 1817.
CLOSS, GusTAv, a landscape painter, was bom at Stuttgart in 1840, and received his fir.st instructions in the School of Arts there under Funk, but afterwards studied in Rome, Naples, Munich, Paris, and other places. He also made a number of 8tudent-tours,especiallyto the Chiem-See in Bavaria, on the borders of which he died in 1870 at Prien. He produced a number of Italian views, and also published 'Illustrations to Wieland's Oberon,' a magnificent volume entitled 'Truth and Fiction,' and ' Uhland and his Home at Tubingen,' the plates in which show the influence of Dark. Of his paintings may be mentioned :
Tlie Villa of Hadrian. Koad near Sorreuto. The Campagna near Rome. Evening in the Villa Pamfili. Cypresses in Tivoli. Christmas Eve. The Lonely Inn.
CLOSTERMANN, Johann, (known in England as John Closterman,) was born at Osnabriick in 1656. He was the son of a painter, who taught him the rudiments of drawing. In 1679 he went to Paris, where he was engaged by De Troyes to paint his draperies. He came to England in 1681, and was tor some time employed in a similar way by Riley. After the death of that artist, Closterinann painted the portraits of several of the nobility, though he was an artist of very limited merit ; but at that period the art was in a very low state in England. He was several times in Italy, and in 1696 was employed at the court of Spain, where he painted the King and the Queen. Portraits of Queen Anne and the Duke of Marlborough by him are in the National Portrait Gallery. A picture similar to the former is in the Council Chamber, Guildhall, and a replica of the latter is at Blenheim. Others of his portraits are the Family of the Duke of Marlborough, and the Duke of Rutland. He died in London in 1713,
CLOUET, Albert, (Clovet, or Clowet,) a Flemish engraver, was the nephew of Pieter Clouet, and was born at Antwerp in 1624. Following the example of his uncle, he visited Italy in the early part of his life, and became a pupil of Cornelis Bloemaert. Among his first productions were some plates of portraits of painters, for Bellori's ' Vite de' Pittori,' published at Rome in 1675. He also engraved several portraits for the work entitled, 'Efiigies Cardinalium nunc viventium,' published at Rome by Rossi. At Florence he engraved after some of the pictures in the Pitti Palace. His plates of historical subjects are executed in the neat and finished style of Cornelis Bloemaert, but in his por- traits he sometimes imitated the manner of Mellan, and at others that of F. de Poilly. He died at Aiitwerp in 1687. The following are his principal prints :
PORTRAITS.
Nicolas Poussin, in Bellori's 'Vite de' Pittori. Sir Anthony van Dyck ; the same. Cardinal Thomas Philip Howard. Cardinal Azzolini ; after I'ouet. Cardinal Eospigliosi .- after Morandi. Cardinal Rosetti. CaniiLal Francis William of ^Vii^tembu^g. Ma.ximilian, Count of Wolfegg, A Medallion of Pope Alexander VII,
FCBJECTS FROM VARIOUS MASTERS,
The Image of the Blessed Umiliana ; after Batdinucct. Sepulchral Monument of Paul III, ; after Barriere. The Miraculous Conception ; after I'ietro da Cortona ; in two sheets, fine and scarce. An Attack of Cavalry ; after Borgognone ; fine. The Battle of Joshua with the Amalekites : in two sheets ; after the same.
CLOUET, Francois, also called Jehanket, Jan.n'et, and more frequently Janet, a French por- trait painter, was born, probably at 'Tours, between the years 1516 and 1520. His father, Jean Clouet, the second of that name, (whose sobriquet derived from his Christian name Jean, Franyois also took,) emigrated from Brussels to Tours, and after his arrival in France held the joint offices of court painter and ' valet-de-chambre ' to Francis I. In the year 1541, that of his father's death, Francois Clouet was, in consequence of his father's services, formally naturalised, and appointed to the vacant position at court. In that capacity he was employed on the death of his patron, in 1547, to make a wax cast of the hands and fare of the deceased monarch to be used at the great state funeral ; and again had to perform a similar service on the death of Henry II. in 1559. He retained his position as court painter also under Francis II. and Charles IX. He was still living in 1572, and died most likely in the following year. His paintings bear distinct traces of a Flemish origin, and their style differs widely from that of the Italian artists whose paintings were then in vog^e in France; paintings which were tainted with an affected sentimentality, and a disregard of nature. Clouet, on the contrary, like the Van Eycks and Memling, had clearly made truth and accuracy his principal aim. Still his works are not Flemish throughout, as they possess also a distinctly French element, which is observable in the elegance that pervades them as well as in the taste that grasps the most advantageous point of view from which to treat them. His aim is apparent on the surface, and j'et it is the result of careful study. The more closely the work is examined the deeper is the insight obtained into the moral and physical character of the person represented. The delicacy of his form is all the more re- markable from its being rendered through the medium of simple pale tones without any attempt at chiaroscuro ; and this fact has but to be appreciated for it to be at once admitted what a real master he was in respect of lightness of hand and certainty of touch. The following are some of the principal works ascribed to him :
Althorp. Earl Spencer. Francis II. „ „ Mary, Queen of Scots. Antwerp. Mttseum. Francis II. Berlin. Gallery. Francis II. „ „ DukeofAnjou (Henry III.). Dresden. Gallery. Jeanne de Pisseleu, Duchess of Etampes. Florence. Pitti Palace. Henry II,
I, Uffisi. Francis I, equestrian portra'*
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