MATSYS (MAssYs or METZYS ) , QUENTIN Flemish artist, was born at Louvain where he learned the trade of a blacksmith. During the greater part of the 15th century, the centres in which the painters of the Low Countries most congre gated were Bruges, Ghent and Brussels. Towards the close of the same period Louvain took a prominent part in giving employment to workmen of every craft. It was not till the opening of the 16th century that Antwerp usurped the lead which it afterwards maintained against Bruges and Ghent, Brussels, Mechlin and Lou vain. Quentin Matsys was one of the first men of any note who gave repute to the guild of Antwerp. A legend relates how the smith of Louvain was induced by affection for the daughter of an artist to change his trade and acquire proficiency in painting. Van Mander does not give us the name of his master. He was ten years old when Dierick Bouts died at Louvain, and his style was probably formed by the Bouts tradition, which survived in the workshop of Dierick's son, Albert. In 1491 Matsys went to Ant werp, and was there admitted into the guild of St. Luke. He was one of the first men of any note in the guild of that city, which was then rapidly becoming the most important commercial centre in the Netherlands. Early works by the master are two pictures of "The Virgin and Child" in the Brussels gallery. Matsys' most celebrated picture is the great triptych of the "Pieta," which he executed in 1511 for the joiners' company, in the cathedral of Antwerp. It is now in the Antwerp museum. Next in impor tance is the "Marys of Scripture round the Virgin and Child," which was ordered for the cathedral of Louvain and is now in the Brussels gallery. These pictures display great earnestness in expression, strong religious feeling, great minuteness of finish and a general absence of light or shade. As in early Flemish pictures, so in those of Matsys superfluous care is lavished on jewellery edgings and ornament. There is a tendency to accentuate individ ual expression. This tendency is illustrated in such pictures as "The Old Man and the Courtesan" in the Pourtales collection, Paris, and the "Market Bankers" in the Louvre, where an attempt is made to display cupidity and avarice. The "Ecce Homo" and "Mater Dolorosa" at Antwerp display serenity and dignity. Very attractive are his pictures with figures on a smaller scale, like the polyptych in Munich, the scattered parts of which have recently been fitted together ; "The Virgin and Child," in the Aynard col lection in Paris, and the two wings of an altarpiece representing "St. John" and "St. Agnes" standing against landscapes which
stretch into the distance. These landscape backgrounds are often in the style of Patinir, who came to Antwerp in 1515, and is said to have painted backgrounds for some of Matsys' pictures. "The Crucifixion" in the Liechtenstein collection is believed to be the joint work of the two masters.
In 1517 Matsys was great as a portrait painter. He painted the portraits of Erasmus and of Peter Gillis to be sent to Sir Thomas More. The original of the Erasmus may be the picture of the Stroganoff collection, while the Gillis is in Lord Radnor's collec tion. It drew from Sir Thomas More a eulogy in Latin verse.
Other portraits are at the museums of Chicago and Oldenburg, and in the collections of Lord Amherst and the prince of Liechtenstein. The man with a pair of eyeglasses in the Stadel gallery at Frank furt is full of vitality ; he seems to be speaking. The Musee Andre, Paris, has an expressive profile of a man, signed and dated 1513. The artist obviously aimed at depicting the desires and emotions of the men of his day. When compared with portraits by Diirer or Holbein, Matsys' art appears subjective and personal. He came into contact with both German masters, for both in turn visited him in his house at Antwerp. Diirer's first call was made in August 1520. The two men must have had much in .common, for they were both humanists. The lost original of Quentin's "St. Jerome in his Study," of which there is a copy in Vienna, owed something to Diirer's "St. Jerome," now at Lisbon. Holbein, as a young man of 27, passed through Antwerp in 1526 on his way to England, and he carried an introduction from Erasmus to Gillis, who was to send him to Matsys' house. The question as to how much Matsys was indebted to the Italian art of his time is difficult to determine.
There is a picture by him from the Raczinski collection in the museum at Posen, representing the Virgin and Child playing with the lamb. These figures are obviously copied from Leonardo's famous "St. Anne, the Virgin and Child," now in the Louvre, ex cept that the St. Anne is left out and the group is placed on a land scape background in the style of Patinir. Quentin Matsys died at Antwerp in 1530. He had two sons who were artists.