Quentin Matsys (Dutch: Quinten Matsijs) (1466–1530) is a painter in the Flemish tradition and a founder of the Antwerp school.
He was born at Leuven, where he is trained as an ironsmith.
Near the front of the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp is a wrought-iron well, known as the "Matsys Well," which according to tradition was made by the painter-to-be.
During the greater part of the fifteenth century, the centers in which the painters of the Low Countries most congregate are Tournai, Bruges, Ghent and Brussels.
Leuven gains prominence toward the close of this period, employing workmen from all of the crafts.
Not until the beginning of the sixteenth century does Antwerp take the lead which it afterward maintains against Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Mechelen and Leuven.
Matsys, as a member of Antwerp's Guild of Saint Luke, is one of its first notable artists.
