Antoon Claeissens

Antoon, Antonius or Anthuenis Claeissens, Claessens, or Claeissins (c.1536 – 18 January 1613) was a Flemish painter. His subjects were historical and allegorical scenes and portraits. He was a member of the Claeissens family of painters which played an important role in the art world in Bruges in the 16th century.

Life Antoon Claeissens was born in Bruges as the third son of Pieter Claeissens the Elder and Marie Meese. His father was a history painter and portraitist and his grandfather Alard Claeissens was also a painter. Antoon's brothers Gillis (1526-1605) and Pieter (c. 1535–1623) both became painters while a third brother Ambrosius was a master goldsmith. Antoon became a pupil of Pieter Pourbus, a leading history and portrait painter active in Bruges. After the death of Antoon's master Pourbus in 1584, Antoon and his brother Pieter became the leading painters in Bruges with many commissions to restore or replace the religious artworks which had been destroyed or damaged during the iconoclasm of the Beeldenstorm. The brothers received payments from the six parish churches of Bruges to coordinate decoration works, restore paintings and create new paintings. Antoon was responsible for works in the Saint Gillis Church and the Church of Our Lady while Pieter worked for the Saint Salvator Church (now the St. Salvator's Cathedral). The brothers shared the work in St. Walburga Church, St. James's Church and St. Donatian's Cathedral.

Claeissens painted a number of group portraits. In the Bruges city hall hangs a Banquet of the City Officials of Bruges in 1574 with portraits of various magistrates of the time, dated 1574. His Judgement of Cambyses (Groeningemuseum, Bruges) was probably also painted for the Bruges city hall. Although it depicts the story of the Judgement of Cambyses, it is likely a group portrait of identifiable figures, whose identities are not known. The story in the composition is lifted from Herodotus' Histories. Cambyses II of Persia was a king of Persia. Upon learning that a judge called Sisamnes had accepted a bribe to influence a verdict, he had him promptly arrested and sentenced to be flayed alive. He ordered the skin of the flayed Sisamnes to be cut into leather strips. Cambyses then appointed Otanes, the son of the condemned Sisamnes, as his father's successor. In order to remind the son of Sisamnes, what happens to corrupt judges and not forget the importance of judicial integrity, Cambyses ordered that the new judge's chair be draped in the leather strips made from the skin of the flayed Sisamnes. Claeissens painting shows the arrest of the corrupt judge as well as the passing of the bribe to the judge in the background. The story of Sisamnes was clearly still relevant in Claeissens' time and his painting would have served as a warning to the judges who heard court cases in the Bruges city hall.

His Family Saying Grace before a Meal (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon) is an early example of the Christian family portrait. It shows a family group seated around a table laid for a meal. They are praying. It is likely that the family is Catholic because the Imperial Habsburg escutcheon is woven into the damask tablecloth. The composition contains biblical symbolism, derived from Psalms 1 and 128. In the background to the left, the view through the open window shows a tree by a river (symbolizing of a good family man) and a vine growing against a wall (symbolizing the fertile housewife).

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