Neve, Francois De

Neve, Francois de a Flemish painter of sacred art, was born at Antwerp, according to Balkema, in 1625. He studied for some time the works of Rubens and Vandyck, and afterwards visited Rome for improvement, where he resided several years. On' returning to Flanders he painted a number of good historical works which gained him considerable reputation; but he afterwards painted heroic landscapes with subjects from history or fable, in which he evinced great fertility of invention and refinement of taste. Bartsch mentions fourteen etchings by this artist, executed in a slight but very masterly style, embellished with figures correctly drawn and ingeniously grouped. Neve died in 1681. See Spooner, Biog. Hist. of the Fine Arts, 2:615.