Männliche Figurenstudien

c. 1526

Moves to Antwerp

A pupil of the Amsterdam engraver Allaert Claesz (other accounts treat this as only possible), at eighteen Aertsen moved to Antwerp, then the centre of artistic life in the Netherlands, where he at first lived with his compatriot Jan Mandijn.

1526 · Virkested

Amsterdam

1535

Joins the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke

In 1535 Aertsen became a member of Antwerp's Guild of Saint Luke; its books record him as “Langhe Peter, schilder” — “Tall Peter, painter”, a nickname he owed to his height.

1550s

Invents the monumental genre scene

Having begun with religious works, in the 1550s Aertsen developed scenes in which furniture, cooking utensils and food are rendered with great flair and realism in the foreground, while the biblical subject is barely noticeable in the background; his peasant scenes preceded Pieter Bruegel the Elder's by a few years. His workshop trained Stradanus and his nephews Joachim and Huybrecht Beuckelaer.

1556–1557

Returns to Amsterdam for an Oude Kerk altarpiece

In 1556–1557 (other accounts say 1555–1556) Aertsen returned to Amsterdam, having received a commission for an altarpiece for the Oude Kerk, the Old Church. Many of his altarpieces for Catholic churches were later destroyed during the iconoclasm.

3. juni 1575

Died