Tobias Verhaecht

Tobias Verhaecht apprenticed in Antwerp and spent his youth in Florence where, during the 1580s, he enjoyed the protection of the Ghent Duke of Tuscany Francesco I. He then left for Rome and worked as a landscape fresco artist. However, none of the works created in Italy are preserved today. In 1590, his name appears in the books of the guild of Saint-Luc in Antwerp, testifying to the artist's return to his hometown. In 1591, he married Rubens' cousin, and welcomed the artist for a while into his studio of which he seems to have been the first master. In 1594 he took part in the decoration projects for the solemn entry of Ernest, Archduke of Austria and Governor of the Netherlands, into the city of Antwerp.