Flemish artist Quinten Matsijs (1466 – 1530)

Quentin Massys was a Flemish artist, the first of the most important masters of the Antwerp school.

It is not known who taught him painting. However, in Massys’ style one can find the influence of Dirk Bouts, who brought much of Rogier van der Weyden, Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling to Leuven. From the first of these three, Massys adopted the firmness of contours, clear modeling and careful elaboration of details. From the other two – the shining richness of transparent pigments.
In the works of Massys one can trace the strong religious feeling characteristic of traditional Flemish works, as well as realism bordering on the grotesque. His paintings are distinguished by a thoughtful approach to expression, detailed visualization and muted chiaroscuro effects. Like most Flemish artists of the time, he paid great attention to decoration, edging of clothes and ornamentation in general.

Quentin Massys also became famous as a genre portraitist. Each of his characters is a commentary on human feelings, behavior and society in general. Such paintings were very popular and often copied.

Overall, he was one of the most influential artists of his time, who managed to combine the clarity of the previous Dutch era with the innovations of the Italian Renaissance.

Most of the early information about Massys’s life is more like legends. It is known that he was born in Leuven somewhere between April 4 and September 10, 1466 and was one of four children of a blacksmith. At first, he learned his father’s trade (probably under the guidance of a parent), but then decided to become a painter. A widespread legend says that love was involved. Young Quentin allegedly fell in love with the artist’s daughter and began an apprenticeship with him in order to be closer to his passion. However, the author of the Book of Painters, Karel van Mander, claims that this is not true. The real reason was illness, during which the boy was too weak to work in the forge, and instead made engravings for the carnival.

Family wealth is also unlikely to have been the reason for Massys becoming a painter. It is documented that his father had a decent income.

Although art historians see the influence of his foreign colleagues in Massys’s paintings, there is no record of him traveling to Italy or other parts of the Netherlands during his training. But this was a significant part of the practice of aspiring artists in that era.
In 1491, 25-year-old Quentin Massys settled in Antwerp. Since no records were kept in the Guild of Saint Luke in Leuven until 1494, there is no concrete evidence that he received the status of master in his hometown. However, historians traditionally believe that this is where it happened, since he was not registered as an apprentice in Antwerp. The already mentioned Karel van Mander claims that Massys was self-taught. But if we take into account the laws and regulations of the guild of the 16th century, this is unlikely.