Also known as Quintin, Metsys, Messys or Matsijs, but we'll stick with Quentin Matsys for now.

Matsys was born in Leuven, which is now a popular student city in the north of Belgium. Very little is known of his early life or training. At first researchers thought his dad taught him to paint, nowadays we believe he didn't have any training at all and was autodidactic. If we believe Johannes Molanus' Historiae Lovaniensium (book containing stories about the city of Leuven) Matsys was a humble iron smith for a while. Until he met a girl he tried to impress her, being a romantic, mysterious painter was the way to go. Flemish painter, art historian and theoretician Karel Mander begs to differ though. He says Matsys started decorating prints for the carnival celebrations because he was too sick to work in the smithy. I like Molanus’ story better.

Anyway, we do know Matsys painted for over 20 years. If he really was a self-taught painter, that’s pretty amazing. Some of his paintings have features recalling the famous Jan van Eyck. Scholars also thought his super famous painting of a monstrous women wearing a funny hat, was a lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci! All because of the striking resemblance to the caricature drawings of heads Leonardo used to make. Now we know it was Matsys who painted the lady. Both guys did exchange a lot of drawings throughout the years, so you could say the painting was kind of a joint effort.

Matsys was also a prominent member of the Antwerp school, a term for the artists active in Antwerp in both the 16th and 17th century. Other famous members were the Breughels (young Jan, old Jan and old Pieter) and Peter Paul Rubens. While these guys are well known as big influences to other painters, Matsys has some following too. German painter Wilhelm von Kaulbach wrote he felt inspired after reading Matsys’s life story. Especially the part where he gets married and becomes rich and happy. Wilhelm “saw the light” and decided to become a painter himself. Centuries later, nothing has changed in terms of many dudes trying really hard to be a flaky, mysterious artsy weirdo to get laid.