COUSTENS, Pieter
(b. ca. 1420, Burgundy, d. before 1502, Bruges)

Biography

Pieter Coustens (Pierre Coustain), Franco-Flemish painter and designer. He is first documented painting stained glass in Philip the Good's Burgundian castle of Argilly in 1448 and 1452. He was appointed a painter to the Duke in January 1454, just before he worked with Colard le Voleur, Master of the Entertainments at Hesdin, on fountains and other machines for the Banquet of the Pheasant in Lille. During the next years, he was responsible for painting the banners and heralds' tabards for several court festivities and funerals. He coloured statues of St Philip and St Elizabeth on the ducal palace in Brussels in 1462 and painted a Crucifixion and a Virgin and Child on the panels placed at the head and foot of the Duke's catafalque in 1467.