Jan Brueghel the Younger

Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Younger (/ˈbrɔɪɡəl/, also US: /ˈbruːɡəl/; Dutch: [ˈjɑn ˈbrøːɣəl] (listen); 13 September 1601 – 1 September 1678) was a Flemish Baroque painter. He was the son of Jan Brueghel the Elder, and grandson of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, both prominent painters who contributed respectively to the development of Renaissance and Baroque painting in the Southern Netherlands. Taking over his father's workshop at an early age, he painted the same subjects as his father in a style which was similar to that of his father. He regularly collaborated with leading Flemish painters of his time.


Brueghel was born in Antwerp on 13 September 1601 as the son of Jan and Isabella de Jode. His mother was the daughter of the cartographer, engraver and publisher Gerard de Jode. He trained with his father in his workshop. His father was a friend and close collaborator of Rubens. He likely assisted his father with the execution of large-scale commissions he carried out.


Like his father he traveled to Italy where he arrived around 1621/22. In Milan he was welcomed by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, a patron and friend of his father whom his father had met in Rome about 30 years earlier. In what was likely an act of rebellion against his father, he went to Genoa where he stayed with his cousins, the Antwerp painters and art dealers Lucas de Wael and Cornelis de Wael. Their mother was a sister of Jan's mother. At the time his friend and fellow artist, Anthony van Dyck was also active in Genoa. He worked in Valletta on Malta in 1623. From 1624 to 1625 he also resided in Palermo on Sicily at the time when van Dyck was also working there.


Jan learned about his father's death from cholera after he had returned to Northern Italy in Turin. Wanting to return to Antwerp immediately, he had to delay his departure for 16 days due to a severe fever. After recovering from his illness, he set off for his homeland by way of France. In Paris he met the Antwerp art dealer and painter Peter Goetkint the Younger, who was the son of Peter Goetkint the Elder, the master of Jan's father. Goetkint was eager to return to Antwerp because his wife was expected to deliver a baby soon. The child was born just on 25 August, when Jan Breughel arrived in Antwerp with his traveling companion who himself died a few days later. In the Guild year 1624-1625, Jan became a master painter of the Guild of Saint Luke of Antwerp.


In 1626 he married Anna Maria Janssens, daughter of Abraham Janssens, a prominent history painter in Antwerp. He became dean of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1630. That same year he was commissioned by the French court to paint a series of paintings of the biblical character Adam. In the following years, he also produced paintings for the Austrian court, and worked independently in Paris, before returning to Antwerp in 1657. He collaborated with a number of prominent artists including Rubens, Joos de Momper, Hendrick van Balen the Elder (1575–1632), Adriaen Stalbemt (1580–1682), Lucas Van Uden (1596–1672), his brother-in-law David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690) and his father-in-law Abraham Janssens.

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