Coecke van Aelst, Pieter

(1502-1550)

   Netherlandish painter, trained by Bernard van Orley. Coecke traveled to Italy sometime after 1517, when his training ended. By 1527, he was back in the Netherlands where he settled in Antwerp and entered the Guild of Painters. In 1533, he is documented in Constantinople unsuccessfully trying to obtain tapestry commissions and, in the following year, he became court painter to Emperor Charles V. He may have taken part in the conquest of Tunis by Charles' army in 1535. Coecke was also a sculptor, architect, and designer of stained glass, as well as the author of a book titled The Manners and Customs of the Turks, published posthumously by his wife. Coecke's Last Supper (1531; Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts) shows his awareness of Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the same subject in Milan (1497-1498) as he too placed Judas opposite Christ and gave his figures animated movement, the scene unfolding in a classical setting. The work was so successful that 41 copies of it remain in various museums around the world.