1596–1625 · Virkested
Antwerp
1603
Death of his first wife, Isabella de Jode
In the year their daughter Paschasia was born (Rubens was her godfather, as he had been for their eldest son Jan in 1601), Isabella died, leaving the painter with two young children; it has been speculated that her death was linked to the birth.
summer 1604
Studies Emperor Rudolf II's collections in Prague
Brueghel spent the summer of 1604 in Prague at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, which attracted Northern Mannerists such as Bartholomeus Spranger and Hans von Aachen. The emperor's encyclopaedic collection of rarities and animals, and Dürer's animal pictures he saw there, spurred him to 'catalogue' nature in his paintings; he also made a painted copy of Dürer's watercolour The Madonna with a Multitude of Animals.
1604 · Virkested
Prague
April 1605
Second marriage: Catharina van Mariënburg
Brueghel remarried, taking Catharina van Mariënburg as his wife; they had eight children, among them the future painter Ambrosius Brueghel.
1606
Court painter to the Archdukes Albert and Isabella
Brueghel was appointed court painter to the sovereigns of the Spanish Netherlands and spent periods in Brussels in 1606, 1609, 1610 and 1613. Thanks to the Archduchess he had access to the court greenhouses with their rarest plants, and he studied animals from life in the court menagerie.