Pieter Coecke van Aelst or Pieter Coecke van Aelst the Elder (14 August 1502Pieter Coecke van Aelst (I) at the Netherlands Institute for Art History – 6 December 1550) was a Flemish painter, sculptor, architect, author and designer of woodcuts, goldsmith's work, stained glass and tapestries. His principal subjects were Christian religious themes. He hailed from the Duchy of Brabant, worked in Antwerp and Brussels, and was appointed court painter to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
Coecke van Aelst was a polyglot. 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 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 was born in Aalst, where his father was Deputy Mayor. The early Flemish biographer Karel van Mander wrote in his Schilder-boeck published in 1604 that Coecke van Aelst studied under Bernard van Orley, a leading Renaissance 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. "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 did. While the Italian influence in his work could be attributed to the fact that Raphael’s tapestry cartoons were available in Brussels, where they were used for the manufacture of tapestries around 1516, the fact that Coecke van Aelst seems also to have been familiar with Raphael's fresco of the Triumph of Galatea located in the Villa Farnesina in Rome suggests that he did in fact travel there.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 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 of Antwerp in 1527. In 1533, he travelled to Constantinople where he stayed for one year during which he tried to convince the Turkish sultan to give him commissions for tapestries.A. Wunder. "Western Travelers, Eastern Antiquities, and the Image of the Turk in Early Modern Europe" Journal of Early Modern History, 7 (2003). 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).Online version of the Ces moeurs et fachons de faire de Turcz at the University of Ghent
Upon his return to Antwerp in 1534, Coecke van Aelst produced designs for a large-scale figure, called 'Druon Antigoon' or the 'Giant of Antwerp' of which the head in papier-maché possibly still survives (Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp). The giant made its premiere many years later in 1549 at the occasion of the Joyous entry into Antwerp of Prince Philip (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 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 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 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 and Jan Brueghel the Elder. Through his marriage with Mayken Verhulst, Pieter Coecke became a brother-in-law of the prominent printmaker and publisher Hubertus Goltzius who had married Mayken's sister Elisabeth.W. Le Loup. "Goltzius, Hubertus." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 8 February 2016
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, Willem Key, Hans Vredeman de Vries, Michiel Coxcie, and possibly Pieter Brueghel the Elder.Van Mander stated that Bruegel was Coecke’s apprentice, an allegation which is no longer generally accepted in view of their substantial stylistic differences, see: Max J. Friedländer, 'Pieter Bruegel', comments and notes by Henri Pauwels, translated by Heinz Norden, A.W. Sijthoff, Leyden, 1978, p. 13
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 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 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, from which all the others 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.
Van Aelst's painting of the subject was freely inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper (1498, Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan) and Marcantonio Raimondi's engraving 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 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. The scene representing the slaying of Abel is based on a print by the prominent Romanist artist Jan Gossaert. The whole iconography accentuates the Christian occupation with original sin and the belief that mankind's salvation 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 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.G. Marlier, La Renaissance flamande. Pierre Coeck d' Alost, Brussels, 1966, p. 254