of England. He also worked for Charles I's two sons, Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester and Charles II during their exile in Bruges in the years 1656-1657. Such overseas travel would also offer an explanation for the long lapse between the time on which Coques commenced his apprenticeship (1620) and the date on which he became a master in the Guild (1640). Coques was a member of two rhetorician guilds in Antwerp. He served twice as the deacon of the Guild of Saint Luke. In 1671 he became court painter to Juan Dominico de Zuniga y Fonseca, the governor of the Southern Netherlands who resided in Brussels. After the death of his first wife, Coques married Catharina Rysheuvels on 21 March 1675 (she died on 25 November 1684. The couple had no children. Coques worked for Antwerp's wealthy bourgeoisie as well as for aristocratic patrons such as governor Juan Dominico de Zuniga y Fonseca, John of Austria the Younger, Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg and Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. Coques enjoyed the patronage of the Dutch court in The Hague possibly because his paintings in the style of van Dyck and featuring scenes with shepherds and shepherdesses appealed to the courtly tastes of the time. Very little is known about Coques' workshop practices. The registers of the Guild of Saint Luke record two apprentices: Cornelis van den Bosch (in 1643/44) and Lenardus-Franciscus Verdussen (in 1665/66), artists about whom nothing else is known. He died in Antwerp on 18 April 1684. Work General Gonzales Coques is primarily known as a painter of individual and family portraits, which he typically executed on a smaller scale than was common at the time. Although these small cabinet paintings have been referred to as conversation pieces, a type of elegant, informal group portrait that he is credited with inventing, recent scholarship has emphasised that his group portraits should be seen as narrative portraits rather than genre portraits, conversation pieces or merry companies. Despite his preference for smaller-scale cabinet paintings, Coques is reported to have made large-format portraits and history paintings (in collaboration with other painters) for the court at The Hague, the current whereabouts of which are not known. Finally, Coques collaborated in and organized the execution of so-called 'pictures of galleries'. Portraits Coques is mainly known for his portraits, and in particular, his group portraits. His work shows the influence of the great