Alonso Sánchez Coello

Alonso Sánchez Coello
Possible self-portrait, c. 1570
Born	c. 1532 Benifairó de les Valls, Valencia
Died	8 August 1588 Madrid, Castile
Nationality	Spanish
Known for	Painting
Movement	Spanish Renaissance

Alonso Sánchez Coello (1531 – 8 August 1588) was a Spanish portrait painter of the Spanish Renaissance. He is mainly known for his portrait paintings executed in a style, which combines the objectivity of the Flemish tradition with the sensuality of Venetian painting. He was court painter to Philip II.

Alonso Sánchez Coello was born in Benifairó de les Valls, near Valencia in Spain. He spent his childhood there until the death of his father when he was around ten years old. He left for Portugal c. 1541 or 1542 to live with his grandfather, who was then in the service of the Portuguese monarchs and had been raised to the Portuguese nobility. Coello's years in Portugal and his family name of Portuguese origin led to a long-standing belief that he was in fact Portuguese. His grandfather's master King John III of Portugal sent the young painter to study with Anthonis Mor (also known as Antonio Moro) in Flanders around 1550. He came under the protection of Antoine de Granville, bishop of Arras, who was also a patron of Mor.

In 1552, the painter went to Lisbon with Anthonis Mor when Charles V commissioned Mor to paint the Portuguese royal family. For a few years, Sánchez Coello remained in Portugal working for the court of the heir to the throne, João Manuel, Prince of Portugal. After the prince's death, Sánchez Coello moved to the Spanish court of Philip II, having been recommended by the widow of John, Juana, who was the sister of the Spanish king. In 1555, Sánchez Coello was in Valladolid working for the Spanish court.