COXCIE, Michael (1499-1592), was born at Malines, and studied under Bernard van Orlay, who probably induced him to visit Italy. At Rome in 1532 he painted the chapel of Cardinal Enckenvooit in the church de Anima; and Vasari, who knew him personally, says with truth “that he fairly acquired the manner of an Italian.” But Coxcie’s chief business in Italy was not painting. His principal occupation was designing for engravers; and the fable of Psyche in thirty-two sheets by Agostino Veneziano and the Master of the Die are favourable specimens of his skill in this respect. During a subsequent residence in the Netherlands Coxcie greatly extended his practice in this branch of art. But his productions were till lately concealed under an interlaced monogram M.C.O.K.X.I.N. Coxcie, who married in Italy, displayed the peculiar bias of his taste by christening his eldest son Raphael. He returned in 1539 to Malines, where he matriculated, and painted for the chapel of the guild of St Luke the wings of an altar-piece now in Sanct Veit of Prague. The centre of this altar-piece, by Mabuse, represents St Luke pourtraying the Virgin; the side pieces contain the Martyrdom of St Vitus and the Vision of St John in Patmos. At Van Orlay’s death in 1541 Coxcie succeeded to the office of court painter to the regent Mary of Hungary, for whom he decorated the castle of Binche. He was subsequently patronized by Charles V., who often coupled his works with those of Titian; by Philip II., who paid him royally for a copy of Van Eyck’s Agnus Dei; and by the duke of Alva, who once protected him from the insults of Spanish soldiery at Malines. There are large and capital works of his (1587-88) in St Rombaud of Malines, in Ste Gudule of Brussels, and in the museums of Brussels and Antwerp. His ...