Gonzales Coques (Cockx), according to Houbraken born in 1618, but actually christened in Antwerp on 8th December 1614, received his education in 1626/27 from Pieter Brueghel the Younger or his son. At an unknown time he moved to the studio of David Ryckaert II, whose daughter Catharina he married on 11th August 1643 in the St. James's Church. In 1675, one year after the death of his wife, Coques entered into a second marriage with Catharina Rysheuvel. Since 1629 his paintings have been influenced by Anthony van Dyck, especially by his English works. Coques was probably in England between 1635 and 1640. After Van Dyck's death, he was the only artist in Antwerp to specialise in portraits in a cabinet format. 1640/41 he became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. He joined the Rederijkerskamer "De Violieren" in 1643/44. Coques travelled several times to the Hague, where he worked as an art dealer and portrait painter for the governor Frederik Hendrik and carried out commissions for the House of Orange. In 1665/66 he was appointed dean of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. In 1667/68 he held the office of managing director of the Antwerp Academy, which had shortly before taken up its teaching activities. In 1680/81 he served a second time as dean of the Guild of Saint Luke. Coques wrote his will on 17th August 1682. No pictures are known from his last four to five years of life. Presumably Coques was already ill at this time. He died on 18th April 1684 and was buried in the Chapel of Our Lady in the Saint George's Church.
