Matthys Cock

Matthys Cock or Matthijs Wellens de Cock (c. 1509/10 – 1540/1548) was a Flemish landscape painter and draughtsman. He is known for his landscapes, marine art and architectural drawings.

Life He was born into a family of painters. His father was the obscure painter Jan Wellens de Cock (c. 1460/1480 – in or before 1521), who was likely the Jan de Cock mentioned several times in the records of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke and the 'Jan Wellens, alias Cock' recorded in the aldermen's registers of Antwerp in 1492. His younger brother Hieronymus Cock (1510–1570) became a famous engraver. He is recorded as master in the guild in 1540, when he had a pupil by the name of Willeken van Santvoort. Cock may have visited Italy. He took on pupils Willem van Santvoort, Jacob Grimmer and Jan Keynooghe.

The early biographer Karel van Mander stated in the Schilder-boeck of 1604 that Cock was the first to bring the southern manner of landscape painting to the North.

Cock has been suggested as one of the possible draughtsmen of the Errara sketchbook in the collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, but this attribution is not generally accepted.