Background
Coxie was born in 1499 in Mechelen in the Duchy of Brabant.
Coxie was born in 1499 in Mechelen in the Duchy of Brabant.
He belonged to the inner circle of Michelangelo and not only learned the style of the renaissance master, he also studied the philosophy and art theory of the antiquity and Roman renaissance.
But Coxie"s principal occupation was designing for engravers. And the fable of Psyche in thirty-two sheets by Agostino Veneziano and the "Master of the Die" are favorable specimens of his skill. Returning to the Netherlands, Coxie greatly extended his practice in this branch of art
But his productions were till lately concealed under an interlaced monogram M.C.O.K.X.I.N. The centre of this altar-piece, by January Mabuse, represents Saint Luke the Evangelist, patron of painters, portraying the Virgin.
The side pieces contain the Martyrdom of Saint Vitus and the Vision of Street John the Evangelist in Patmos. At van Orley"s death in 1541 Coxie succeeded to the office of court painter to the Regent Maria of Austria, for whom he decorated the castle of Binche.
At that time, Coxie also designed tapestries for the Brussels looms. Many of the "Jagiellonian tapestries" were sold to Sigismund II Augustus for his castle on the Wawel.
Coxie may also have designed the tapestries for Phillip II"s Royal Palace of Madrid depicting episodes of the life of Cyrus II, based on the writing of Herodotus.
There are large masterworks of his from (1587-1588) in the Saint Rumbolds Cathedral of Mechelen, in the Saint Michael and Gudula Cathedral of Brussels, and in the museums of Leuven, Brussels and Antwerp. His style is a unique synthesis of the Flemish and Italian artistic traditions. Influenced by Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Raphaël, he never forgot his Flemish training and background.
He was known as the "Flemish Raphael".
He died at Mechelen on 5 March 1592 at the age of 92, after falling from a flight of stairs. After his death, he still influenced the painters of the first half of the seventeenth century, but he was forgotten afterwards.
M - Museum Leuven presented in 2013 the first monographic exhibition on Michiel Coxie.