A Family Group by a Fountain

Dated 1655 and now in the Wallace Collection, this panel painting positions a family beside a fountain — an iconographic device carrying associations with life, renewal, and aristocratic garden culture. Fountains in seventeenth-century Flemish portraiture operated as markers of elevated status: only the substantial gardens of wealthy merchant families or minor nobility featured such architectural garden ornaments. Coques was adept at deploying such props to elevate his clients without resorting to the blatant heraldic displays of official court portraiture. The Wallace Collection holds multiple works by Coques, reflecting the sustained taste of nineteenth-century collectors for the intimate warmth of Flemish cabinet painting. By 1655 Coques was at or approaching the height of his powers, and this work shows the mature ease of handling that distinguished his best panels from the slightly stiffer early works.

The panel's smooth preparation surface supports delicate glazes in the sky and water reflection passages. Coques plays the cool stone of the fountain architecture against warm flesh tones and the rich colours of the family's dress, a tonal contrast that organises the composition and focuses attention on the figures despite the elaborate setting.