1527 – Antwerp – 1581


Marten van Cleve was the son of the painter Willem van Cleve and the pupil of Frans Floris. In 1551, he became a master of the Antwerp guild, the very same year as his contemporary Pieter Brueghel the Elder. He didn’t travel to Italy as was the custom at the time. His early works bear witness to the influence of Pieter Aertsen, though just like his other contemporaries, Maerten van Cleve couldn’t escape the powerful influence of Pieter Brueghel. Like the latter, Maerten van Cleve painted exterior and interior peasant scenes with an acute sense of reality. We know that Pieter Brueghel the Younger, who was inspired by the work of his famous father, also drew inspiration from several of van Cleve’s paintings. A number of characteristics can be found in all the works of the latter: the women's white headdresses, which are larger than those painted by the Brueghels, with the straps sometimes raised and tied above the head; there is also always a dog, which is generally portrayed in profile.
He worked with Floris, his brother Hendrik, a landscape painter, the Grimmers, and Gillis van Coninxloo.