(ca. 1499-1592)
Although little is known of his early life, Michiel Coxcie was born in Mechelen and is believed to have been a pupil of Bernard van Orley. He traveled to Rome shortly after 1530 and studied the works of Raphael and other masters. From the early 1540s to the late 1550s he was based largely in Brussels, where he held the position of official designer of tapestries for the town. Designs attributed to him are based on stylistic comparisons of his work in other media as no documents pertaining to panels he crafted for the tapestry industry have survived. His designs feature large muscular figures that dominate the foreground (Triumph of the Seven Virtues [ca. 1550]). Coxcie painted the triptych The Last Supper (1560?) now in the Cathédrale des Saints-Michel-et-Gudule. He has been called the "Flemish Raphael." Cox-cie died in Mechelen on 10 March 1592.
Historical Dictionary of Brussels. Paul F. State.