![Pieter Coecke van Aelst](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Pieter_Coecke_van_Aelst.jpg)
Pieter Coecke van Aelst or Pieter Coecke van Aelst the Elder (
Aalst, 14 August 1502 –
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, 6 December 1550) was a Flemish
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
, sculptor, architect, author and designer of woodcuts, goldsmith's work,
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
and
tapestries
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...
.
[Pieter Coecke van Aelst (I)]
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...
His principal subjects were Christian religious themes. He worked in Antwerp and Brussels and was appointed
court painter
A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...
to
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (Crown of Castile, Castil ...
.
Coecke van Aelst was a
polyglot
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingualism, monolingual speakers in the World population, world's pop ...
. He published translations into Flemish (Dutch), French and German of Ancient Roman and modern Italian architectural treatises. These publications played a pivotal role in the dissemination of
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
ideas in Northern Europe. They contributed to the transition in Northern Europe from the
late Gothic style then prevalent towards a modern 'antique-oriented' architecture.
Life
![Pieter Coecke van Aelst - The temptation of St Anthony](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Pieter_Coecke_van_Aelst_-_The_temptation_of_St_Anthony.jpg)
Pieter Coecke van Aelst was the son of the Deputy Mayor of
Aalst. The early Flemish biographer
Karel van Mander
Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembe ...
wrote in his
Schilder-boeck
or is a book written by the Flemish writer and painter Karel van Mander first published in 1604 in Haarlem in the Dutch Republic, where van Mander resided. The book is written in 17th-century Dutch and its title is commonly translated into Engl ...
published in 1604 that Coecke van Aelst studied under
Bernard van Orley
Bernard van Orley (between 1487 and 1491 – 6 January 1541), also called Barend or Barent van Orley, Bernaert van Orley or Barend van Brussel, was a versatile Flemish artist and representative of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, who w ...
, a leading
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
painter based in Brussels. There are no documents that prove this apprenticeship but there are strong stylistic similarities between the styles of the two artists.
Jane Campbell Hutchison
Jane Campbell Hutchison (July 20, 1932 – July 12, 2020) was an American art historian specialising in the old master prints of the Northern Renaissance. She was best known for her 1990 biography of Albrecht Dürer, which was translated into G ...
. "Coecke van Aelst Pieter, I." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 8 December 2014
According to Karel van Mander, Pieter Coecke van Aelst later studied in Italy where in Rome he made drawings after Classical sculpture and architecture. Although there is no firm evidence that Coecke van Aelst travelled to Italy, stylistic evidence supports the notion that he travelled to Italy. The Italian influence could, however, also be attributed to the fact that
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...
’s tapestry cartoons were available in Brussels, where they were used for the manufacture of tapestries around 1516. However, as Coecke van Aelst clearly was familiar with Raphael's fresco of the
''Triumph of Galatea'' located in the
Villa Farnesina
The Villa Farnesina is a Renaissance suburban villa in the Via della Lungara, in the district of Trastevere in Rome, central Italy.
Description
The villa was built for Agostino Chigi, a rich Sienese banker and the treasurer of Pope Julius II. Be ...
in Rome, it seems likely he did in fact travel to Italy.
[Pieter Coecke van Aelst]
at Sphinx Fine Arts
Pieter Coecke van Aelst married twice. He married his first wife Anna van Dornicke in 1525 shortly after his move to Antwerp. Anna was the daughter of Jan Mertens van Dornicke, one of the most successful painters working in Antwerp.
[Getting to Know Pieter Coecke van Aelst]
at the Metropolitan Museum His father in law was possibly his teacher. Coecke van Aelst took over his father-in-law's workshop after the latter's death in 1527.
[Pieter Coeck van Aelst, ''The Madonna with the Cushion'']
at Gallery De Jonckheere There were two children from this first marriage, Michiel and Pieter II. The latter was a painter.
[ Printer ]Maarten Peeters
Maarten Peeters or Marten Peeters van Ghelle ( – 1566) was a Flemish painter, print publisher and dealer active in Antwerp.
Peeters was born in Geel, Duchy of Brabant, around 1500. He was also called Martinus Petri, Merten Peters, and Marteen ...
and his wife were the legal guardians of Michiel and Pieter. After the death of his first wife before 1529, Coecke van Aelst had an affair with Anthonette van der Sandt (also known as Antonia van der Sant). The pair never married but had a daughter, Antonette, and at least one son, Pauwel who also became a painter.[Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, p. 150-159 ]
Coecke van Aelst is recorded joining the local Guild of Saint Luke
The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ide ...
of Antwerp in 1527. In 1533, he travelled to Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
where he stayed for one year during which he tried to convince the Turkish sultan to give him commissions for tapestries. This mission failed to generate any commissions from the sultan. Coecke made many drawings during his stay in Turkey including of the buildings, people and the indigenous flora. He seems to have retained from this trip an abiding interest in the accurate rendering of nature that gave his tapestries an added dimension.[Roberta Smith, ''In Weft and Warp, Earth, Heaven and Hell ‘Grand Design’ Showcases Pieter Coecke Tapestries at the Met'']
23 October 2014 The drawings which Coecke van Aelst made during his stay in Turkey were posthumously published by his widow under the title (Antwerp, 1553).
Upon his return to Antwerp in 1534, Coecke van Aelst produced designs for a large-scale figure, called 'Druon Antigoon
Druon Antigoon or Druon Antigonus is a Flemish folkloric character. He was a mythical giant who lived in Antwerp.
Guarding a bridge on the river Scheldt, he exacted a toll from those crossing the river. For those who refused, he severed one of ...
' or the 'Giant of Antwerp' of which the head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
in papier-maché possibly still survives (Museum aan de Stroom
The Museum aan de Stroom (known as MAS; Dutch for: ''Museum by the Stream'') is a museum located along the river Scheldt in the Eilandje district of Antwerp, Belgium. It opened in May 2011 and is the largest museum in Antwerp.
History
In 1998 the ...
, Antwerp).[ The giant made its premiere many years later in 1549 at the occasion of the ]Joyous entry
A Joyous Entry ( nl, Blijde Intrede, Blijde Inkomst, or ; ) is the official name used for the ceremonial royal entry, the first official peaceable visit of a reigning monarch, prince, duke or governor into a city, mainly in the Duchy of Braban ...
into Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, of Prince Philip
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
(the future Philip II). The giant became a regular fixture in public processions in Antwerp until the 20th century.[Göttler, Christine (2014), ''Druon Antigoon, der unzerstörbare Koloss: Städtischer Raum, antiquarische Kultur und Künstlerwissen im Antwerpen des 16. Jahrhunderts'' In: Nova, Alessandro; Hanke, Stephanie (eds.) Skulptur und Platz. Raumbesetzung, Raumüberwindung, Interaktion. I Mandorli: Vol. 20 (pp. 141–172). Berlin, München: ]Deutscher Kunstverlag
The Deutscher Kunstverlag (DKV) is an educational publishing house with offices in Berlin and Munich. The publisher specializes in books about art, cultural history, architecture, and historic preservation.
History
Deutscher Kunstverlag was fo ...
In the year 1537 Coecke van Aelst was elected a dean of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. He also received a stipend from the Antwerp city government.[ Around this time Coecke van Aelst received major commissions for the design of stained-glass windows including for the Antwerp Cathedral.][
]
Around 1538–1539 Coecke van Aelst married for the second time. His second wife Mayken Verhulst
Mayken Verhulst (1518–1596 or 1599), also known as Marie Bessemers,Greer, p. 26. was a sixteenth-century miniature, tempera and watercolor painter, identified by Lodovico Guicciardini in 1567 as one of the four most important female artists in ...
was originally from Mechelen and a painter of miniatures. The couple had three children, two daughters called Katelijne and Maria and a son named Pauwel (even though he had another son with this name).[ The prominent painter ]Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; – 9 September 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called genre ...
married Coecke van Aelst's daughter Maria (called 'Mayken'). Karel van Mander has asserted that Coecke van Aelst's second wife was the first teacher of her grandchildren, Pieter Brueghel the Younger
Pieter Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Younger (, ; ; between 23 May and 10 October 1564 – between March and May 1638) was a Flemish painter, known for numerous copies after his father Pieter Bruegel the Elder's work as well as h ...
and Jan Brueghel the Elder
Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman. He was the son of the eminent Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. A close friend and frequent collaborato ...
. Through his marriage with Mayken Verhulst, Pieter Coecke became a brother-in-law of the prominent printmaker and publisher Hubertus Goltzius
Hubert Goltz or Goltzius (30 October 1526 – 24 March 1583) was a Renaissance painter, engraver, and printer from the Southern Netherlands. He is not to be confused with the much more famous Hendrik Goltzius, who was his cousin, once remove ...
who had married Mayken's sister Elisabeth.
There is speculation that Coecke set up a second workshop in Brussels but there is no evidence for this.[ Coecke van Aelst was appointed court painter to Charles V only a few months prior to his death.][ Coecke was in Brussels in 1550 where he died in December. As his two youngest children died at the same time, it is possible that all three family members were victims of a contagious epidemic.][
His students included leading painters such as ]Gillis van Coninxloo
Gillis van Coninxloo (now also referred to as Gillis van Coninxloo II but previously referred to as Gillis van Coninxloo III) (24 January 1544 – January 1607) was a Flemish painter of landscapes who played an important role in the development ...
, Willem Key
Willem Adriaensz Key (1516 – 5 June 1568) was a Flemish Renaissance painter.
Biography
Key was born in Breda, Netherlands. In 1529 he was known to be a pupil of Pieter Coecke van Aelst in Antwerp. Later, together with Frans Floris, h ...
, Hans Vredeman de Vries
Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527 – c. 1607) was a Dutch Renaissance architect, painter, and engineer. Vredeman de Vries is known for his publication in 1583 on garden design and his books with many examples on ornaments (1565) and perspective (1604 ...
, , and possibly Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; – 9 September 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called genre ...
.
Work
General
Pieter Coecke van Aelst was a versatile artist and a master designer who devised projects across a wide range of different media, including panel paintings, sculptures, prints, tapestries, stained glass and goldsmith's work.[Grand Design, Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Renaissance Tapestry]
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
No signed and few reliably documented paintings by Coecke van Aelst have survived.[
His drawings are an important witness to his skills as they are the only body of works by the artist, which are autograph. Approximately forty drawings are regarded as autograph, in addition to cartoons and cartoon fragments on which he likely worked with assistants. A majority of his drawings are related to his tapestry designs.][Sarah Mallory, ''Stijn Alsteens on Pieter Coecke's Drawings'']
posted on 9 December 2014 on the Metropolitan Museum of Art
In his art Coecke showed his ambition to emulate contemporary Italian artists. From the later 1520s his works start to reveal the Italian influence, as is noticeable in his figures, which gain in monumentality, and the greater movement and drama in his compositions. His main model was Raphael and his circle. Coecke was likely already familiar with their compositions in Antwerp. However, when he traveled to Constantinople around 1533, he likely visited Mantua, where Raphael's leading pupil Giulio Romano
Giulio Romano (, ; – 1 November 1546), is the acquired name of Giulio Pippi, who was an Italian painter and architect. He was a pupil of Raphael, and his stylistic deviations from High Renaissance classicism help define the sixteenth-centu ...
was active at the time. Romano possessed a large collection of Raphael's drawings and Coecke must have availed himself of the opportunity to study these in detail during his visit. After his return to Flanders Coecke's style changed dramatically and approached the Italian models he had studied.[
Coecke operated a large workshop, which was organized in an efficient manner. He acted as an entrepreneur who provided his assistants with his original inventions, which were then turned into final works under his supervision.][Pieter Coecke van Aelst, ''The Last Supper'']
at Christie's The style that he created was widely imitated.[
]
''Last Supper''
Van Aelst's composition of the ''Last Supper'' became extremely popular in the 16th century and many versions were produced. The version dated 1527 in the collection of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland, Belvoir Castle, Grantham, England is believed to be the original copy from which all the other ones were derived.[Sarah Mallory, ''Curatorial Conversations: Maryan Ainsworth on Coecke's Panel Paintings'']
posted on 23 December 2014 on the Metropolitan Museum of Art The composition was popularised through a print after it made by Hendrik Goltzius
Hendrick Goltzius, or Hendrik, (; ; January or February 1558 – 1 January 1617) was a German-born Dutch printmaker, draftsman, and painter. He was the leading Dutch engraver of the early Baroque period, or Northern Mannerism, lauded for his ...
.[
]
Van Aelst's painting of the subject was freely inspired by Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
's ''Last Supper'' (1498, Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan) and Marcantonio Raimondi
Marcantonio Raimondi, often called simply Marcantonio (c. 1470/82 – c. 1534), was an Italian engraver, known for being the first important printmaker whose body of work consists largely of prints copying paintings. He is therefore a key figu ...
's engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...
of about 1515–1516 based on a lost drawing by Raphael. The gestures of the apostles are derived from Dürer's print of the ''Last Supper'' dated 1523. There exist about 45 versions of this composition, which were executed with the assistance of workshop assistants. A great number of the versions are dated, and of these 6 or 7 are dated 1528. Van Aelst likely produced the original drawing for the ''Last Supper'', which was subsequently copied onto a panel by means of intermediary cartoons. The composition could be ordered in two formats: 50 x 60 cm and 60 x 80 cm. The large version was more popular than the smaller one.[
Small biblical scenes in the background of the composition place the ''Last Supper'' in its theological context. Through the window it is possible to discern a scene depicting the '' Entry in Jerusalem of Jesus Christ'', the principal event preceding the Last Supper according to Christian literature. Scenes of the ]Fall of Man
The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God in Christianity, God to a state of guilty disobedience.
*
*
*
* ...
and the Expulsion from Paradise can be discerned in the ornaments of the upper panes of the window. The medals on the wall depict the biblical stories of the Slaying of Abel and David and Goliath
Goliath ( ) ''Goləyāṯ''; ar, جُليات ''Ǧulyāt'' (Christian term) or (Quranic term). is a character in the Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant defeated by the young David in single combat. The story signified King Saul's ...
. The scene representing the slaying of Abel is based on a print by the prominent Romanist artist Jan Gossaert
Jan Gossaert (c. 1478 – 1 October 1532) was a French-speaking painter from the Low Countries also known as Jan Mabuse (the name he adopted from his birthplace, Maubeuge) or Jennyn van Hennegouwe (County of Hainaut, Hainaut), as he called him ...
. The whole iconography accentuates the Christian occupation with original sin
Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...
and the belief that mankind's salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
solely relies on Christ's sacrifice.[ The original version of 1527 expresses in some of its details an iconography, which shows a close link to the Protestant ]Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
movement. In the other versions this meaning is less pronounced.[
]
''St. Jerome in his Study''
Coecke van Aelst and his workshop produced multiple versions of ''St. Jerome in his Study''.
Saint Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is comm ...
is revered by Christians for his translation into Latin of the Bible, which he produced while residing in a monastery in Palestine. One of the principal influences on the Flemish iconography of St. Jerome was Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
's ''St. Jerome in His Study'' completed in March 1521. In the version of the subject in the Walters Museum
The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...
Coecke van Aelst suggests the Oriental setting by the view visible through the window which shows a landscape with camels. To the wall is affixed an admonition, "Cogita Mori" (Think upon death), a vanitas
A ''vanitas'' (Latin for 'vanity') is a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, often contrasting symbols of wealth and symbols of ephemerality and death. Best-known are ''van ...
motif that is reiterated by the skull. Further reminders of the motifs of the passage of time and the imminence of death are the image of the Last Judgment
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...
visible in the saint's Bible, the candle and the hourglass.
Another version of this subject was sold at Christie's (28 January 2015, New York, lot 104). This version reprises iconographic elements, which stress Christian beliefs regarding the transience of human life and the importance of the sacrifice of Christ for people to find salvation at the time of the so-called Last Judgement. The work also clearly is close to Albrecht Dürer's ''St. Jerome in His Study'' of 1521.[
]
Tapestry designs
Pieter Coecke van Aelst was renowned for his tapestry designs which were executed by the Brussels tapestry
Brussels tapestry workshops produced tapestry from at least the 15th century, but the city's early production in the Late Gothic International style was eclipsed by the more prominent tapestry-weaving workshops based in Arras and Tournai. In 1 ...
workshops. These designs were typically small-scale drawings in black-and-white. His cartoon for the ''Martyrdom of St. Peter'' (Brussels Town Hall
The Town Hall (french: Hôtel de Ville, Dutch: ) of the City of Brussels is a landmark building and the seat of the City of Brussels municipality of Brussels, Belgium. It is located on the south side of the famous Grand-Place/Grote Markt (Brus ...
) is in grisaille
Grisaille ( or ; french: grisaille, lit=greyed , from ''gris'' 'grey') is a painting executed entirely in shades of grey or of another neutral greyish colour. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many g ...
with touches of green and red while the names of the other colors, such as gold or blue, are written in.
The patrons for the tapestries included Emperor Charles V, Francis I of France
Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...
, Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
and Cosimo de' Medici
Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was an Italian banker and politician who established the Medici family as effective rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derived from his wealth ...
.[ His reputation as a tapestry designer was established through his popular series of the ''Story of Saint Paul'', the ''Seven Deadly Sins'', the ''Story of Abraham'', the ''Story of Vertumnus and Pomona'', the ''Story of Joshua'', the ''Story of the Creation'', ''Poesia'', the ''Conquest of Tunis'' and ''Julius Caesar''.][
Between 1545 and 1550 Coecke designed tapestries in which the scenes are placed in architectural or landscape settings as is apparent in the ''Conquest of Tunis'', the ''Poesia'' and the ''Story of the Creation'' tapestry series. ]Mary of Hungary
Mary, also known as Maria of Anjou (, , ; 137117 May 1395), reigned as Queen of Hungary and Croatia (officially 'king') between 1382 and 1385, and from 1386 until her death. She was the daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, ...
, the Governor General of the Netherlands, appealed to Coecke to assist Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen
Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, or Jan Mayo, or Barbalonga (c. 1504 – 1559) was a Dutch Northern Renaissance painter.
Biography
Based on his will, rediscovered in 1998, Vermeyen was born in Beverwijk in 1504 (possibly 1503 or 1505). According to ...
with the design of the ''Conquest of Tunis'' tapestry series. ''The Conquest of Tunis'' series was designed around 1546 and recounts Charles V's successful recapture of Tunis from the Turks. The tapestries were designed about 11 years after the events they recount took place. Coecke and Vermeyen collaborated on the cartoons for the tapestries.[Grand Design: Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Renaissance Tapestry, 8 October 2014 – 11 January 2015, ''The Creation, Tunis, and Poesia Series'']
at the Metropolitan Museum Vermeyen had reportedly accompanied Charles V on the military expedition to Tunis and had made sketches of the people, events and landscapes that he observed during the campaign. The Conquest of Tunis tapestries were extensively used for propagandistic purposes by the Habsburg dynasty. They were displayed at all court festivities, state events and religious ceremonies and had pride of place in the principal reception rooms of the Brussels palace and later in the Alcázar palace.
The ''Poesia'' series was inspired by the stories in Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
's ''Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...
''. Only one set of the tapestries was ever woven after they were designed around 1547–1548. King Phillip II of Spain acquired the set in 1556. The ''Story of the Creation'' was designed around 1548 and acquired by Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici
Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second Duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death.
Life
Rise to power
Cosimo was born in Florence on 12 ...
and his spouse Eleanor of Toledo
Eleanor of Toledo (Italian: ''Eleonora di Toledo'', 11 January 1522 – 17 December 1562), born Doña Leonor Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio, was a Spanish noblewoman and Duchess of Florence as the first wife of Cosimo I de' Medici. A keen businessw ...
.[
]
Graphic works
Coecke van Aelst's studio was well known for its graphic
Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture, ...
works and publications. Coecke van Aelst had during his visit to Turkey made drawings of local sights and scenes. The drawings were published posthumously in 1553 by his widow Mayken Verhulst under the title (Antwerp, 1553).
He was also the publisher and designer of a volume of prints entitled ''De seer wonderlijke…Triumphelijke Incompst van … Prince Philips'' commemorating the Joyous entry
A Joyous Entry ( nl, Blijde Intrede, Blijde Inkomst, or ; ) is the official name used for the ceremonial royal entry, the first official peaceable visit of a reigning monarch, prince, duke or governor into a city, mainly in the Duchy of Braban ...
into Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, of Prince Philip
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
(the future Philip II) in 1549. Coecke had himself designed some of the triumphal arches and stages that were reproduced in the volume.[ It is believed that the appreciation for these prints at the Spanish court led to Coecke van Aelst's appointment as court painter to Charles V.][
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Architectural publications
Pieter Coecke van Aelst was a gifted linguist and is noted for his translation of Vitruvius
Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled ''De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribute ...
' ''De architectura'' into Flemish under the title published first in 1539.Online copy of the ''Die inventie der colommen''
at the University of Ghent He, and after his death, his widow Mayken Verhulst, published the five books of Sebastiano Serlio
Sebastiano Serlio (6 September 1475 – c. 1554) was an Italian Mannerist architect, who was part of the Italian team building the Palace of Fontainebleau. Serlio helped canonize the classical orders of architecture in his influential treat ...
's architectural treatise ''Architettura'' in Flemish, French and High German (the German translation was done by another translator). The first translation published was the fourth book of the ''Architettura'' published under the title in 1539.[Christopher Heuer, 'The City Rehearsed: Object, Architecture, and Print in the Worlds of Hans Vredeman de Vries (The Classical Tradition in Architecture)', Routledge, 2009, p. 39-47]
Coecke van Aelst’s translation of Vitruvius
Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled ''De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribute ...
was hailed by the humanist Dominicus Lampsonius
Dominicus Lampsonius (Latinised form of Dominique Lampsone) (1532, in Bruges – 1599, in Liège) was a Flemish humanist, poet and painter. A secretary to various Prince-Bishops of Liège, he maintained an extensive correspondence with humanist ...
as the only Dutch-language book to discuss the building styles of other countries. In line with Italian translations of Vitruvius published earlier in the 16th century, Coecke's translation gave prominence to woodcut illustrations of the text and used columns to indicate the difference between three kinds of architectural representation: plan, elevation, and view. This was a clear break with the few treatises on architecture published earlier in the Low Countries which generally did not provide any visual exegesis.[
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Coecke van Aelst’s 1539 Flemish translation of Serlio provided to the Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
a relatively affordable translation of one of the first illustrated architectural treatises in Europe. The original Italian edition had appeared in Venice only two years earlier. Coecke van Aelst’s Flemish (Dutch) edition in turn served as the basis for the first English translation of Serlio.[ The translations of Serlio's works were in fact pirated editions since Serlio never authorised Coecke to translate and publish his works. In the Flemish translation of volume IV Serlio was only mentioned in the notice to the reader and in the colophon. The first translation in French by Coecke (also of Book IV) dated 1542 only mentioned Serlio in the colophon. In the first German translation dated 1543 Coecke mentioned Jacob Rechlinger from Augsburg as the translator but remained silent on Serlio's authorship. Serlio was clearly unhappy with these unauthorised translations and repeatedly threatened to sue Coecke who was, however, safe from prosecution as Coecke lived in a region under Spanish control while Serlio resided in France, an enemy of Spain.][Giovanni Mazzaferro, Review of Sebastiano Serlio in Lyon. Architecture and printing. Edited by Sylvie Deswarte Rosa. Part Three]
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The translations of these important Roman and Italian architectural works played a crucial role in spreading Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
ideas to the Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
and hastening the transition from the late Gothic style prevalent in the area at the time towards a modern "antique-oriented" architecture in Northern Europe.[ The translations were further instrumental in establishing a theoretical distinction between the acts of planning and executing a building. This led to the development of architecture as a new independent discipline distinguished from the craft of stonemason. In the Low Countries the relation between architecture and perspective also acquired theoretical backing in Coecke van Aelst’s translations. Coecke's translations of architectural publications had an important impact on the architect and graphic artist ]Hans Vredeman de Vries
Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527 – c. 1607) was a Dutch Renaissance architect, painter, and engineer. Vredeman de Vries is known for his publication in 1583 on garden design and his books with many examples on ornaments (1565) and perspective (1604 ...
who is said to have assiduously copied their designs.[
In the interest of 'localisation', Coecke van Aelst’s translation made significant changes to Serlio’s original designs. For instance in one illustration he inserted 24 Latin block-letter patterns where Serlio had placed woodcuts of shields.][
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Selected works
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Coecke van Aelst, Pieter
1502 births
1550 deaths
Flemish Mannerist painters
Flemish history painters
Flemish genre painters
Flemish tapestry artists
Flemish stained glass artists and manufacturers
Painters from Antwerp
People from Aalst, Belgium