COCK, Paul de

Flemish painter and architect, active in Bruges. He was the son of Philippe de Cock and Therese Cambier and a brother of painter Hubert de Cock (active 1763). He graduated at the Bruges Academy under Matthijs de Visch (1702-1765). In 1740 he was awarded the second prize for figure drawing and in 1741 the first prize for all subjects together. In 1743 he received an award for architecture.

In 1748 and 1749 he lived in Paris and Valenciennes, where he executed copy work commissioned by a merchant. After his return to Bruges, he executed a large landscape in the Town Hall of Kortrijk after the work of Dutch master Philip Woumans (1619-1668). Later he painted murals in large halls, he produced bas-reliefs and paintings, especially with horses and battlefields. There were more than 1,200 works to his credit. Nevertheless, he remained particularly active as an architect.

Around 1750 he became a teacher of engineering at the Bruges Academy and from 1775 until his death he was director, following in this position Jan Garemijn. Many works by him are in the Groeninge Museum, Bruges which also keeps his portrait dating from 1779 by Joseph-Benoît Suvée.