Mayken Verhulst

Mayken Verhulst was born in Mechelen around 1518 as the daughter of Peeter Verhulst Bessemeers (1492–1553) and Margriet Dancerme (1493–1545. Her father was a painter and she learned the artist craft in her father's workshop. Her sister Lysbeth married the engraver and painter Hubert Goltzius, and her sister Barbara married the painter Jacob de Punder. She married Pieter Coecke van Aelst (called the Elder) around 1535 as his second wife. Van Aelst was 16 years older than her and already a prominent painter, sculptor, architect, author and designer of woodcuts, goldsmith's work, stained glass and tapestries. Before they married he had made a perilous journey to Turkey from which he had brought back a great number of drawings. He became later court painter to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. • Illustration — Ces Moeurs et Fachons de Faire des Turcz, detail They lived together in Antwerp from 1540 to 1545, then moved to Brussels. Verhulst worked in her husband's workshop until his death in 1550. They had three children: Pieter II, Kathelijne and Mayken (who married in 1563 the great painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder). Mayken was, according to the early biographer Karel van Mander, the first teacher of her grandsons Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder. She was buried on 11 April 1600 in Mechelen.

Following Pieter Coecke's death in 1550, she likely oversaw the publication of a large scroll made by conjoining multiple woodcuts entitled Ces Moeurs et Fachons de Faire des Turcz (Manners and Customs of the Turks) (1553) (copies of which are in the collections of the Rijksmuseum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum. This print was originally designed by van Aelst as a tapestry design, strategically published by Verhulst as a print after his death to showcase his work. • Illustration — t Vliegend Peert in Mechelen No works survive that can be securely attributed to Verhulst, although she is frequently identified as the person behind several works assigned to the Master of the Brunswick Monogram.

The authorities additionally record the headings Marie de Bessemers, Mayken Maaiken, Mayken Meyken, Bessemers, Marie de Verhulst and Mayken Mayke. Her recorded language was Dutch. She was the child of Pieter van der Hulst (I). She married Pieter Coecke van Aelst. 3 children are recorded: Pauwels Coecke van Aelst, Mayken Coecke and Pieter Coecke van Aelst (II). Other recorded relations include Jan Brueghel the Elder and Pieter Brueghel the Younger.