Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502-1550)Pieter Coecke, born in Aalst, had several strings to his bow: painter, sculptor, architect and designer of prints, stained glass and tapestries. His teacher was probably the Brussels painter Bernard van Orley. According to the biographer Van Mander, Coecke visited Italy when he was young, where became acquainted with the Renaissance. He contributed significantly to the dissemination of Renaissance ideas in the North through his own sculpture and the books on architectural theory that he published. Shortly before his death (Brussels 1550), Coecke was appointed court painter to Emperor Charles V. Although he must have had a large, productive workshop, few of his paintings are extant. Many were lost during the sixteenth-century Iconoclast Fury. |
