At the age of ten, Alonso Sánchez Coello moved with his family to Portugal, where he began his first art studies. John III, king of Portugal, was aware of his talent and in 1550 he paid the young artist’s trip to Flanders to complete his training. There, Sánchez Coello worked for Cardinal Granvela and was a disciple of Anthonis Mor van Dashorst. After returning to Lisbon around 1552, he probably b
His stay in Italy was already documented in 1517, when he signed The Virgin and the Souls of Purgatory (Museo del Prado). This work's style has led him to be related with Raphael's workshop, especially with some of his frescoes for the vatican stanze. Various contemporaneous references to a Petro Spagnolo have also linked him to Michelangelo and to other temporary creations in Rome in 1515. Machuc
He was first taught in his native Arezzo by the little-known French glass painter and fresco painter, Guillaume de Marcillat (1475-1529 or 1537). By 1524, he had moved to Florence, where he worked for Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530), in whose studio he became acquainted with Francesco Salviati (1510-1563). During his early training in Florence, he met Michelangelo (1475-1564) and Baccio Bandinelli (1