13 Facts About Francis Cleyn

Francis Cleyn was born in Rostock in Germany, and while a youth displayed such abilities that he was retained in the service of Christian IV of Denmark.

Francis Cleyn was sent to Italy to study, and remained there four years, studying at Rome and Venice; at Venice he was introduced to Sir Henry Wotton, then English ambassador to the republic.

Francis Cleyn found Charles away on his expedition with Buckingham to Spain, but was warmly received by James I, who saw in him the very man he wanted for the Mortlake Tapestry Works, the new tapestry manufactory which he had recently set up under Sir Francis Crane at Mortlake, London.

The request was granted, and Francis Cleyn returned to England to enter the service of Prince Charles, and was immediately employed at Mortlake.

Francis Cleyn built for him at Mortlake a residence near the tapestry manufactory.

The grotesques and other ornaments in these works, a line in which Francis Cleyn appears to have been unrivalled, have always been greatly admired, and some modern authorities have had no hesitation in ascribing them to the hand of Anthony van Dyck or some more famous painter, ignoring the fact that Francis Cleyn was spoken of at the time as a second Titian, and as "il famosissimo pittore, miracolo del secolo".

Francis Cleyn was largely employed by the nobility to decorate their mansions.

Francis Cleyn's name has become attached to the design of chairs with scallop shells backs which furnished these interiors.

Francis Cleyn's designs were engraved by Pierre Lombart, William Faithorne, and Wenceslaus Hollar, and were so much admired that the king of France had those for Virgil copied in a special edition of his own.

Francis Cleyn published in the form of grotesques some sets of original etchings, namely Septem Liberates Artes, Varii Zophori Figuris Animalium ornati, Quinque Sensuum Descriptio ; and a friend and contemporary artist, a Mr English, etched some grotesques, and a humorous piece from Cleyn's designs.

An album of original drawings by Francis Cleyn, held by the University of Southampton, includes studies for tapestry and two drawings for the surviving capricci of putti in the Green Room at Ham House.

In 1656, Francis Cleyn was paid by the Commonwealth for new tapestry designs based on Henry VIII's tapestry suite of The Story of Abraham and Mantegna's Triumphs of Caesar.

On his death, Cleyn left three sons, Francis, John, and Charles; and three daughters, Sarah, Magdalen, and Penelope.