Cock, Jan Wellens de (
d Antwerp,
c.1526). Netherlandish painter, perhaps to be identified with a ‘Jan van Leyden’ who became a master in the Antwerp painters' guild in 1503. He is a shadowy figure and the reconstruction of his oeuvre is controversial, but he is noteworthy as one of the earliest followers of
Bosch, his penchant seemingly being small pictures of hermits and saints in weird landscapes. He had two artist sons,
Matthys (
c.1509–
c.1548) and
Hieronymus or
Jerome (
c.1510–70), both of whom worked in Antwerp. Matthys was renowned in his day as a landscapist and is mentioned by
Vasari as well as
van Mander, but little is known for certain of his work. Jerome was an etcher and the leading print publisher of his time in northern Europe; his business was called ‘Aux Quatre Vents’ (At the Sign of the Four Winds). Pieter
Bruegel was much employed by Cock in the earlier part of his career, when he excelled at prints in the tradition of Bosch.
