Antwerp masters such as Rubens. However, the most important influence on his work was van Dyck. Some of Coques' works can in fact be regarded as the transposition of van Dyck compositions to smaller scale cabinet pieces. It can be said that he provided to well-off bourgeoisie what van Dyck was providing to his aristocratic patron. In that role he replaced from the 1640s the other leading 17th century portrait painter to the bourgeoisie in Antwerp, Cornelis de Vos, who concentrated from that time onwards more on his history paintings. He is credited with introducing a new kind of portrait genre in Flanders: small-scale group portraits in which the subjects are depicted going about their everyday activities in their houses or gardens. These portraits were narrative in nature rather than genre pieces. From his early tentative compositions he developed later the ability to put together well-organized and complex scenes. The portraits had their roots in aristocratic portraiture and aimed to stress the status and privilege of the sitters. To this end the sitters were depicted in scenes that emphasized the spiritual and material achievements of the sitters such as musical performances, outdoor meals, quiet strolls and hunting scenes. He integrated Venetian motifs such as classical architecture and drapery in the compositions, as had been pioneered by van Dyck. His family portraits are never stereotypes although his clients may have been able to choose from models. This explains that identical poses appear in a series of diverse pictures. Still each background is different. A good example of a family portrait is the composition A family group in a landscape (Wallace Collection). It shows the father of the family decorously holding his wife's hand while pointing with his other hand to his sons returning from the hunt. The image conveys the privileged position of the family members since hunting had been until shortly before the date of the painting the exclusive privilege of the nobility. A daughter accompanies the boys. The basket of fruit she carries may be a representation of the hope for a fruitful marriage. The well-tended garden is decorated with statuary and fountains and is a testimony to the sitters' status and wealth. The family hierarchy is clearly staged, but the setting remains informal because of the presence of children and pets. The background in this painting may have been painted by another hand. Allegorical portraits Coques painted a