Dinner of artists

Dated 1660 and painted on copper at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris (Petit Palais), this dinner of artists is a remarkably self-referential subject for Coques: a gathering of creative professionals, likely including recognisable Antwerp figures, sharing a meal in a context that blends professional collegiality with social conviviality. Feasts among artists had symbolic resonance going back to Renaissance humanist convivial culture, where shared meals represented intellectual fellowship. In mid-seventeenth-century Antwerp, the Guild of Saint Luke provided an institutional framework for exactly such gatherings, and the image may document or idealise actual events within Coques's professional community. Copper support for a multi-figure group scene at this relatively small scale is technically ambitious — each face requires individualisation in a confined format that tests the limits of fine brushwork.

Multiple figures around a table on a small copper panel require Coques to compress his usual portrait-scale characterisation into miniaturist dimensions. He differentiates figures primarily through profile variants and costume rather than detailed facial modelling at this scale, while the table's laid surface — food, vessels, linen — provides still-life interest within the figure composition.