Brief Biography-Quentin Massys was born in Leuven into a blacksmith’s family from Putte in the Campine. He was a farrier until the age of twenty when he took up painting. The Guild of Saint Luke admitted him as a free master in 1491. It is uncertain that he ever travelled to Italy. Many early scholars stated that had he been to Italy to study, he would have been one of the most prominent artists of the Low Countries. His paintings appear to regard the deficiencies of life rather than the virtues. It is, however, evident in his paintings that Leonardo influenced his works. He was known to be an acquaintance of Albrecht Durer. Joachim Patenier inserted a background landscape into one of his paintings. In 1517, Massys painted portraits of Erasmus and Pieter Gillis or Petrus Egidius, both received by Sir Thomas More as a present. His most striking and famous painting has always been The Two Misers, now in the gallery of Windsor Castle. His name is also spelt Matsys, Metsys, Massys and Messys.