1580 – Antwerp – 1662 Born of Protestant parents, Adriaen van Stalbemt spent his early years in Middelburg where his family sought refuge after the capitulation of Antwerp. In 1609, he returned to his home town and was admitted to the Guild of Saint Luke that same year. Attracted by the most fashionable genre of the time, he dedicated himself to landscape painting, a focus reflected in some twenty of his works dating from 1604 to 1629. In 1632, the artist was summoned to London by King Charles I of England (1600 – 1649), and spent ten months there. He then seems to have abandoned all artistic activity for reasons that remain unknown. Stalbemt’s landscape compositions have often been described as eclectic. While some evoke the style of Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568 – 1625), certain constants help to identify his works: in particular, his rendering of foliage, and the houses painted in light yellow rather than the pink used by Jan Brueghel. Indeed, it is Adriaen van Stalbemt’s unclassifiable and varied personality that lends his works their distinct appeal. Alongside Abraham Govaerts (1589 – 1626), he is considered one of the most accomplished followers of Jan Brueghel the Elder.