KEY, Flemish family of artists

Adriaen Woutersz. Key (d. before 1541) was a goldsmith in Breda, as was his son Frans Key; at least four other sons settled in Antwerp, where three were active as painters and the youngest as a diamond-cutter. Wouter Key, presumably the eldest, became a master in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke in 1531. No paintings by him are known, nor any by Cornelis Key, who became a master painter in 1549. The work of Willem Key, a history and portrait painter, is best known, although many of his paintings have also disappeared, having perished during the Spanish Fury of 1576. Michiel Key, apparently the youngest of the brothers, joined the Guild in Antwerp in 1555.




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