Jan Massys was the son of painter Quentin Metsys. He left Antwerp in 1544 to travel to Italy and France, where he aligned himself with the School of Fontainebleau. When he returned to Antwerp, he popularised a style that emphasised the primacy of the figure set in complex poses, as well as discrepancies in scale between the figures their setting. His style is essentially subjective, based on an ideal of elegant artifice.
[Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna - Oil on canvas]