Nice to meet you Mr. Coxcie!
Sounds like the name of an author or a popstar, right? Or an artist maybe?
Leaflet of the Michiel Coxcie. The Flemish Raphael exhibit
- Leaflet of the Michiel Coxcie. The Flemish Raphael exhibit
Correct, only, he lived a few centuries ago… Unknown to me and to most of us, but in his time, the 16th century, Michiel Coxcie was a very famous Flemish painter. Some of his design sketches were attributed to Raphael, hence his nickname ‘the Flemish Raphael’.
Glad to have learned about him in this exhibition in Museum M in Leuven.
Coxcie was probably born in 1499 in Mechelen and was trained as a painter in Brussels in the style of the Flemish Primitives. Then he left for Italy to study the Renaissance style, classical art and the work of Da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo for about 10 years. Coxcie and Michelangelo even worked together for a little while. Back into the Low countries Coxcie mixed the renaissance style he had picked up in Italy with the still predominant style of the Flemish primitives.
Chubby but Flemish
The result? Remarkable, interesting paintings and dozens of sketches, on display in this exhibition in Leuven. ‘The Holy Kinship’ (depicting the Virgin Mary and her family) in the new style, influenced by renaissance architecture and other winks to Da Vinci, was probably a shocker to the locals. Chubby bodies in ‘David and Goliath’ definitely remind me of Peter Paul Rubens. The latter, so is said, even found inspiration in Coxcie’s style!
Coxcie was not only a painter, he also made sketches and drawings for tapestries – Brussels was the word center of weaving in those days – and stain-glassed windows. Some of these glass windows can still be admired in the St. Gudule cathedral in Brussels! I’ll have to go look…Yes, Coxcie was really good, and that didn’t go unnoticed by Habsburg rulers who offered him a job at the court to decorate their palaces.
Turbulent times
What I especially intrigued me in the exhibition was the timeline in the multimedia corner. Seeing the political, economical and cultural context always helps to bring the historic figure to life and that was no different for Coxcie. It made me realize that this man lived in a turbulent and at the same time very fascinating era; Maarten Luther started his Reformation, Duke Alva reigned in the Low countries – the Spanish even plundered Coxcie’s house – and William of Orange was murdered. Counter reformation began and Coxcie, a strong catholic, wasn’t afraid to show his belief in a self portrait as St. George. Contemporaries were not only the painters Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael but also Titian, Desiderius Erasmus, Thomas Morus. Peter Paul Rubens was born when Coxcie was 78. At the age of 92 he died, falling from a scaffolding, while painting his last work ‘ Legend of St. Gudule’.
Leaflet of the Michiel Coxcie. The Flemish Raphael exhibit
Adoration
The highlight in the exhibit is the tryptic of the Adoration of the mystic lamb, which Coxcie copied in 1558 from the altar piece by Jan and Hubert van Eyck (a century older). Copying was an honourable practice in those days. This exhibit is the first time the different panels, that come from different museums in Berlin, Munich, Brussels, are reunited again.
Better late than never
Many big museums like the British museum and Rijksmuseum contributed to this exhibition. It’s not very big but is a huge eye-opener to me. It is the first time a retrospective on this painter is taking place and Coxcie deserves it. Better late than never! It’s a mystery to me how this guy has gone unnoticed for hundreds of years and I must admit that the thought whether there would überhaupt have been a Rubens without Coxcie, did cross my mind…
More info
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Interactive corner : In the exhibit, kids can have fun making a digital painting on a tablet, color part of a painting and forward the result to their email address. Adults can enjoy listening on a tablet to 4 historic characters telling their personal story about Coxcie. One of them is Giorgio Vasari, painter and writer and 12 years younger than Coxcie.
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My favorite object : don’t really have one – maybe ‘The Holy Kinship’ – but I learned something new and am glad about that. By the way, taking pics in the exhibit is not allowed.
- Entry fee : 10 euro, audiotour on podcast (with Near Field Communication technology) included. A podcast for kids is sponsored by Ketnet (Flemish tv station)
- From 31 October 13 until 23 Feb. 14 in Museum M, Leuven (Belgium)
- website: http://www.coxcie.be
The Holy Kinship
The Virgin Mary and her family
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