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Quentin Massys or Metsys

1466 1530
• Renaissance • Wikipedia: Quentin Massys or Metsys
84 artworks found

The artist Quentin Massys was born in the Flemish province of Brabant. The form Matsys or Metsys is also used for the spelling of his name. Quentin was born the son of a blacksmith and it was not uncommon for the 15th century for sons to continue their father's trade and Quentin began working in the forge as a matter of course. According to an imaginative story, Quentin met a young girl during this time and fell in love. She is said to have been the daughter of an artist and to impress her he became an artist. However, art historians claim that Quentin was weak and sickly at a young age and could not fulfill the physically demanding work at the forge. He much preferred to pull out his sketchbook and draw.

In the 15th century, the Flemish cities showed a similar development to the Italian artistic centres. Trade brought a certain prosperity to the country and artistic centers were formed. The city of Antwerp had become the centre of Flemish painting in the 16th century. Quentin moved to the city and was admitted as a painter to the Guild of St. Luke. Massys initially devoted himself to painting religious subjects. This was later followed by works that, in addition to pure representation, can be seen as critical statements. With the depiction of the moneychanger and his wife, Massys takes up a theme that van Eyck had already approached about a century before him. A polarizing theme for the society of the time. Based on a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, the painting The Grotesque Old Woman is said to have been created. A caricature that inspired Lewis Carroll to make her the Queen in Wonderland. Malicious tongues claim there is a real-life model for the painting.

Quentin Massys could read faces and play with facial expressions like few other painters of the time. He probably already used this skill quite consciously and thus reached the viewer emotionally. Massys had various artistic strategies at his disposal to increase the impact potential of his works. Quentin not only possessed the technical potential to implement the fine gestures and strong facial expressions, he also had the empathic eye to see and recognize the individual in each person. These skills made Quentin one of the leading portrait painters of his time. Thus it came about that Quentin was allowed to paint a portrait each of the scholar Erasmus and his friend Peter Gillies. According to a story, the two men were looking for a Christmas present for another mutual friend. They commissioned Quentin Massys to make two portraits. The portrait of Erasmus is one of Quentin's most famous works. It shows the scholar sitting at his desk. The room is filled with many small additions that could not have been more aptly chosen to relate to the sitter. © Meisterdrucke

A Grotesque Old Woman, possibly Princess Margaret of Tyrol, c....

Quentin Massys or Metsys

Undated | Oil on panel

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A Grotesque Old Woman, possibly Princess Margaret of Tyrol, c....

Quentin Massys or Metsys

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Quentin Massys or Metsys