Michiel Coxcie

Flemish, 1499–1592

BiographyMichiel Coxcie (Coxie) was born in 1499, probably in Mechelen (Malines). After training (probably with Bernard [Barent] van Orley [ca. 1490-1541] in Brussels), he traveled to Haarlem and to Rome, where he lived from about 1530 to 1539. Coxcie became a master in the Mechelen Guild of St. Luke on 11 November 1539. Shortly thereafter he moved to Brussels, where in 1542 he became a member of that city's guild of painters. He is first mentioned as court painter to Mary of Hungary in 1546, although he was probably active in that capacity by at least a year earlier (see date on the Oberlin portrait). Coxcie returned to Mechelen, at that time the judicial and religious center of the Netherlands, in about 1563. He was in Antwerp from 1585 until his death in Mechelen on 10 March 1592. Coxcie was extremely prolific; in addition to history paintings, altarpieces, frescos, and portraits, he also made designs for engravings, tapestries, and stained glass windows. His son Rafaël (1540-1616) was also a painter.