Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen

[1] He worked in Mechelen and elsewhere, chiefly as a portraitist for the governors of the Habsburg Netherlands, Archduchess Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary.

[2] His epitath in the church where he was buried stated that he was born in Beverwijk, which is a village about 10 kilometres north of Haarlem (now in the Netherlands).

Gossaert and his pupil van Scorel were among the first painters of the Habsburg Netherlands to visit Italy and Rome.

[3] In the same year he accompanied the Archduchess to Cambrai on the occasion of the signing ceremony of the Treaty of Cambrai (the so-called 'Ladies' Peace'), that ended the French involvement in the War of the League of Cognac between the French king Francis I and the Spanish Habsburg emperor Charles V.[5] He travelled with the Archduchess to Augsburg and Innsbruck from 25 May to 27 October 1530.

[3] Vermeyen likely moved to Spain in 1534 and in any case before 8 June 1534 as he produced a large drawing of a bullfight held on that day in Avila.

This journey supplied him with scenes for later works, including tapestries designed in 1545/48 for Mary of Austria, the regent of Hungary and later governor of the Habsburg Netherlands.

He "designed a set of twelve tapestries commemorating scenes from the campaign that would travel with Charles wherever he went, to bear witness to this triumph.

[5] Their son Hans or Jan Vermeyen (before 1559-1606) became a master goldsmith in Antwerp in 1590 and was later employed by Emperor Rudolf II.

Payments for paintings in the Church of the Abbey of St Vaast in Arras are documented from 1548 until 1561, two years after his death, to his widow.

He produced very expressive and lively character sketches in his portraits in which the eloquent hand gestures of the sitters accentuate their personality traits.

He also created a number of paintings depicting nocturnal religious scenes such as the The calling of St John during the marriage at Cana.