Gonzales Coques

Gonzales Coques (between 1614 and 1618 – 18 April 1684) was a Flemish painter of portraits and history paintings.Veronique van Passel, "Coques ocks; Cox Gonzales onsael; Gonsalo" ''Grove Art Online''. Oxford University Press, ccessed 4 October 2015. Because of his artistic proximity to and emulation with Anthony van Dyck he received the nickname ''de kleine van Dyck'' (the little van Dyck). Coques also worked as an art dealer.Ursula Härting, ''Review of Marion Lisken-Pruss, Gonzales Coques (1614-1684). Der kleine Van Dyck (Pictura Nova. Studies in 16th- and 17th- Century Flemish Painting and Drawing XIII). Turnhout: Brepols 2013. 495 pp, 29 col. pls, 120 b&w illus. '', in: historians of netherlandish art, Newsletter and Review of Books Vol. 30, No. 2, November 2013, pp. 46–47

Life

Coques was born in Antwerp as the son of Pieter Willemsen Cock and Anne Beys. There is no certainty regarding the exact date of his birth. Estimates range between c. 8 December 1614, the date on which a Gonzala Coques was baptized in the Antwerp Church of St. George (possibly an elder sister although female 'a' endings of first names of boys did occur in 17th century Antwerp) and 1618, the date under the engraved portrait in biographer Cornelis de Bie's book Het Gulden Cabinet of 1661. The later date is less likely since Coques commenced his apprenticeship in 1626 which would be a more likely date for a 12-year-old than an 8-year-old.Gonzales Coques
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History

Gonzales Coques was first registered in 1626-1627 at the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as a pupil of Pieter Brueghel the Younger or his son Pieter Brueghel III. David Rijckaert (it is not clear whether David Ryckaert I or his son David Rijckaert II is meant) is named as his teacher under a portrait engraved by Joannes Meyssens, which was included in Meyssens' publication ''Image de divers hommes'' of 1649. Coques became a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in the Guild year 1640-1641. He married on 11 August 1643 with Catharina Ryckaert (died on 2 July 1674) who was the daughter of David Rijckaert II, his presumed master. The prominent Antwerp painter David Ryckaert III and Charles II during their exile in Bruges in the years 1656-1657.

Such overseas travel would also offer an explanation for the long lapse between the time on which Coques commenced his apprenticeship (1620) and the date on which he became a master in the Guild (1640).

Coques was a member of two rhetorician guilds in Antwerp. He served twice as the deacon of the Guild of Saint Luke. In 1671 he became court painter to Juan Dominico de Zuniga y Fonseca, the governor of the Southern Netherlands who resided in Brussels.

After the death of his first wife, Coques married Catharina Rysheuvels on 21 March 1675 (she died on 25 November 1684. The couple had no children.

Coques worked for Antwerp's wealthy bourgeoisie as well as for aristocratic patrons such as governor Juan Dominico de Zuniga y Fonseca, John of Austria the Younger, Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg and Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. Coques enjoyed the patronage of the Dutch court in The Hague possibly because his paintings in the style of van Dyck and featuring scenes with shepherds and shepherdesses appealed to the courtly tastes of the time.

Very little is known about Coques' workshop practices. The registers of the Guild of Saint Luke record two apprentices: Cornelis van den Bosch (in 1643/44) and Lenardus-Franciscus Verdussen (in 1665/66), artists about whom nothing else is known.

He died in Antwerp on 18 April 1684.

Work

General

Gonzales Coques is primarily known as a painter of individual and family portraits, which he typically executed on a smaller scale than was common at the time. Although these small cabinet paintings have been referred to as conversation piece portraits, conversation pieces or merry companies.

Despite his preference for smaller-scale cabinet paintings, Coques is reported to have made large-format portraits and history paintings (in collaboration with other painters) for the court at The Hague, the current whereabouts of which are not known. Finally, Coques collaborated in and organized the execution of so-called 'pictures of galleries'.

Portraits

Coques is mainly known for his portraits, and in particular, his group portraits. His work shows the influence of the great Antwerp masters such as Rubens. However, the most important influence on his work was van Dyck. Some of Coques' works can in fact be regarded as the transposition of van Dyck compositions to smaller scale cabinet pieces. It can be said that he provided to well-off bourgeoisie what van Dyck was providing to his aristocratic patron. In that role he replaced from the 1640s the other leading 17th century portrait painter to the bourgeoisie in Antwerp, Cornelis de Vos, who concentrated from that time onwards more on his history paintings.Bert Timmermans, ''Patronen van patronage in het zeventiende-eeuwse Antwerpen: een elite als actor binnen een kunstwereld'', Amsterdam University Press, 2008 - Antwerp (Belgium), pp. 170–171

He is credited with introducing a new kind of portrait genre in Flanders: small-scale group portraits in which the subjects are depicted going about their everyday activities in their houses or gardens. These portraits were narrative in nature rather than genre pieces. From his early tentative compositions he developed later the ability to put together well-organized and complex scenes. The portraits had their roots in aristocratic portraiture and aimed to stress the status and privilege of the sitters. To this end the sitters were depicted in scenes that emphasized the spiritual and material achievements of the sitters such as musical performances, outdoor meals, quiet strolls and hunting scenes. He integrated Venetian motifs such as classical architecture and drapery in the compositions, as had been pioneered by van Dyck.

His family portraits are never stereotypes although his clients may have been able to choose from models. This explains that identical poses appear in a series of diverse pictures. Still each background is different. A good example of a family portrait is the composition '' A family group in a landscape'' (Wallace Collection). It shows the father of the family decorously holding his wife's hand while pointing with his other hand to his sons returning from the hunt. The image conveys the privileged position of the family members since hunting had been until shortly before the date of the painting the exclusive privilege of the nobility. A daughter accompanies the boys. The basket of fruit she carries may be a representation of the hope for a fruitful marriage.Gonzales Coques (1614 - 1684), ''A Family Group in a Landscape''
at the Wallace Collection The well-tended garden is decorated with statuary and fountains and is a testimony to the sitters' status and wealth. The family hierarchy is clearly staged, but the setting remains informal because of the presence of children and pets. The background in this painting may have been painted by another hand.

Allegorical portraits

Coques painted a few series of allegorical portraits depicting the five senses. The sitters for the portraits were fellow Antwerp artists. The set in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp has the following portraits: ''Sight'' (Artus Quellinus the Elder), ''Hearing'' (Jan Philip van Thielen), ''Smell'' (Lucas Faydherbe

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