Corneille Van Clève (bapt. 10 June 1646 – 31 December 1735) was a French sculptor.

Corneille Van Clève
Portrait of Clève from 1701 by Académie member Pierre Gobert
Born
Baptised10 June 1646
Died31 December 1732(1732-12-31) (aged 86)
Paris, Kingdom of France
EducationFrançois Anguier
Known forSculpture
SpouseMarie-Antoinette De Meaux de Vallicre
ChildrenJosse Van Clève
AwardsPrix de Rome (1671)
Patron(s)Louis XIV, Louis XV
Director of the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture
In office
1711–1714
MonarchLouis XIV
Preceded byFrançois de Troy
Succeeded byAntoine Coypel

Biography

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Clève was born in Paris in 1646 to a family of Flemish goldsmiths and baptized on 10 June that year. His grandfather, a merchant goldsmith, immigrated to Paris from Flanders and was naturalized by King Henry IV in 1606.[1] Cleve studied under French sculptor François Anguier and received the Prix de Rome scholarship in 1671.[2]

After spending several years there at the French Academy in Rome, as well as three years in Venice, Clève returned to France in 1678.[3] On 26 April 1681, he was formally accepted to the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture upon submission of a marble statue of the cyclops Polyphemus.[4] Clève would be director of the Académie from 1711 to 1714.[5] Clève enjoyed the patronage of both King Louis XIV and Louis XV, earning the King's pension until his death and sculpting numerous statues for the Palace at Versailles.[1]

Clève married Marie-Antoinette De Meaux de Vallicre, half-sister of the famous goldsmith Nicolas de Launay [fr], on 31 January 1682. She died in May 1683, just a few days after giving birth to their only son, Josse. He went on to become a sculptor, working in his father's workshop and earning several awards from the Académie, but would die on 4 June 1711.[1]

Clève died during the night of 30-31 December 1732 following a long bout of illness that begun in April 1730.[1]

Selected works

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Souchal, François (1987). French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th centuries: The Reign of Louis XIV. Vol. III, M to Z. Translated by Hill, Elsie; Hill, George. Bruno Cassirer Publishers. pp. 367–368. ISBN 0-85181-053-5.
  2. ^ Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Vol. 3, Bulow–Cossin. Paris: Éditions Gründ. 2006. p. 1123.
  3. ^ Levey, Michael (1972). Painting and sculpture in France 1700-1789. Yale University Press. p. 72. ISBN 0-300-05344-4.
  4. ^ "Polyphème assis sur son rocher". collections.louvre.fr (in French). 13 October 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  5. ^ Williams, Hannah (2016). Académie Royale: A History in Portraits. Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-4094-5742-8.