Gillis Coignet

Gillis Coignet, Congnet or Quiniet (c. 1542 – 1599) was a Flemish Renaissance painter, who was strongly influenced by the Italian style.

In the second half of the 1560s he journeyed through Italy, where he visited inter al. Florence, Rome, Naples and Sicily.

According to the Florentine Accademio del Disegno, Giulio Cognietta fiamingo P[ictor] was present at their meeting of 16 January 1568.

[7] Both painters are mentioned in a document as members of a group of decorators who embellished the salon of the Villa d'Este under the supervision of Frederico Zuccaro,[7] they also worked on an embossed grotesque in the Palazzo Giocosi.

[12] In March 1580 he and his wife bought the lifelong usufruct of the house for 750 guilders on the condition that the Guild members could use the bowling green at any time.

[17] This same year Gillis seems to have persuaded a number of his relatives to become members of the Armenbus, including his brothers the physician Jacob and the court mathematician Michiel together with their wives.

In 1586, however, Anthony Palerme and Jan van de Kerckhove testified that Gillis had behaved himself "with all modesty and peacefulness".

Apparently some difficulties arose, a dispute occurred and a conciliatory meeting with the elders (= previous deans) was held on 26 October 1585.

His last appearance in the Guildbooks dates back to Ascension Day 1586, when it became apparent that the accounts he and Ambrosius Vrancken had drawn up did not balance.

[25] Van Mander also asserts that it was Gillis Coignet who persuaded Hans Vredeman de Vries to come to Amsterdam.

[28] It is not clear whether their religious beliefs had anything to do with this dispute, but it is not impossible as the relations between Lutherans and Calvinists in the Amsterdam at that time were very bad indeed.

About 1593-94 Gillis went to Hamburg, "because of his religion or something else" according to van Mander,[29] and he is last mentioned in Amsterdam on 21 January 1593, when he was a witness at a baptism.

According to Van Mander Gillis Coignet painted many night scenes, in which he employed goldleaf to highlight torches and candles.