Nationality: Dutch
Lifespan: 1587– 1633
Jean LeClerc (1587/88 – buried 20 October 1633) was a 17th-century painter from the Duchy of Lorraine. His style was Baroque, or more specifically "tenebrist". Only six authenticated paintings remain of LeClerc’s work, but numerous etchings and engravings have survived.
LeClerc was born and died at Nancy. He studied with the Venetian master Carlo Saraceni. LeClerc is known for his mastery of nocturnal light effects, and the luminosity of his scenes.
He was born into a family in the service of Duke Charles III of Lorraine (reg. 1559-1608). He perhaps had his earliest training in the then independent duchy. He is said to have spent more than 20 years in Italy but is first recorded there in 1617, in the house in Rome of the Venetian painter Carlo Saraceni. His earliest known etching, a Death of the Virgin after Saraceni, was published in Rome in 1619. In 1621 he signed the mural Doge Enrico Dandolo Recruiting for the Crusade in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in the Doge's Palace in Venice. This work had been begun, or at least designed, by Saraceni before his death the previous year. As a reward Leclerc was made a knight of the Order of San Marco.
LeClerc was born and died at Nancy. He studied with the Venetian master Carlo Saraceni. LeClerc is known for his mastery of nocturnal light effects, and the luminosity of his scenes.
He was born into a family in the service of Duke Charles III of Lorraine (reg. 1559-1608). He perhaps had his earliest training in the then independent duchy. He is said to have spent more than 20 years in Italy but is first recorded there in 1617, in the house in Rome of the Venetian painter Carlo Saraceni. His earliest known etching, a Death of the Virgin after Saraceni, was published in Rome in 1619. In 1621 he signed the mural Doge Enrico Dandolo Recruiting for the Crusade in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in the Doge's Palace in Venice. This work had been begun, or at least designed, by Saraceni before his death the previous year. As a reward Leclerc was made a knight of the Order of San Marco.
