Gonzalez, a painter of portraits and conversazioni, was born at Antwerp in 1618, and became a disciple of David Ryckaert the elder. His admiration of the style of Vandyck induced him to fix on that great artist as his model; and he was so successful, that, after Vandyck, he was esteemed equal to any other painter of his time. In the school of Ryckaert he had been accustomed to paint conversazioni, and he frequently composed fancy pieces after the manner of Teniers, Ostade, and Vandyck; a habit by which he introduced a very agreeable style of portrait painting. In this way he produced several fine pictures for Charles I., the Archduke Leopold, and the Prince of Orange; and from the latter he received a rich gold chain, with a medal on which the prince's bust was impressed. Coques died in 1684. He had an excellent pencil; his portraits were well designed, with easy, natural attitudes; his figures were disposed in his compositions so as to avoid confusion; he gave an extraordinary clearness of colour to his heads and hands; and his touch was free, firm, and broad—a kind of excellence seldom seen in works of small size.