Quentin Massys (1466 - 1530)
The Ugly Duchess (1525-30) - Quentin Matsys
[Oil on wood, 64 x 45,5 cm National Gallery, London]
Biography
Quentin Matsys, also known as Quentin Massys, Quentin Metsys or Kwinten Metsys, was a painter in the Flemish tradition, founder of the Antwerp school. He was born about 1466 and died in 1530.
His works include A Portrait of an Elderly Man (1513), The Money Changer and His Wife (1514), and The Ugly Duchess (1515)
The Ugly Duchess is perhaps the best-known of his works. It served as a basis for Sir John Tenniel's depiction of the Ugly Duchess in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It is probably not a depiction of any one model, though it is sometimes said to be a portrait of Margaret, Duchess of Carinthia, also known as Margaret Maultasch (“Satchel-mouth”). --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Matsys [Mar 2004]
Two of his sons, Jan Matsys and Cornelis Matsys, were also painters. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Matsys [Mar 2004]
your Amazon recommendations