Willem Key
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Willem Adriaensz Key (1516[1] – 5 June 1568) was a Flemish Renaissance painter.
Key was born in Breda, Netherlands. In 1529 he was known to be a pupil of Pieter Coecke van Aelst in Antwerp.[2] Later, together with Frans Floris, he took lessons from Lambert Lombardus in Liège.[3] He became a member of the Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp in 1540. He was a rich man who lived in a large house in the center of town near the exchange. He was married to Johanna Reyns, who after his death remarried to Maarten Peeters II, son of printer Maarten Peeters.[4][5] Key's daughter Susanna married painter Huybrecht Beuckeleer.[6][5] He became specialized in flattering portraits and made a good living from theatrically posed group portraits. In van Mander's biography, he mentions several larger pieces by his hand that were burned during the Beeldenstorm. In particular he mentions a destroyed group portrait of the market-sellers on an altar of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal in Antwerp. This could suggest that his painting of the Last Supper in Dordrecht is (based on) a period group portrait of basket weavers and barrel makers, since this painting was commissioned for the altar of St John the Evangelist in the Grote Kerk, Dordrecht, and at that time (c. 1560) St John was the patron saint of the coopers.[citation needed]
