1631
Returns to Antwerp and joins the Guild of St Luke
Brouwer returns to his native Flanders and is registered as a master in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke, even before becoming a citizen of Antwerp. He lived and worked in the city until his death.
1631–1638
Debts and want in Antwerp
Brouwer's name regularly appears in Antwerp records in connection with the settlement of his debts; in his lifetime his paintings did not fetch high prices, and his household goods were seized for his creditors. His fellow artists valued him more highly than the market did: Rubens bought several of his pictures for his collection and tried to extend his patronage to the “incorrigible carouser”.
1631–1638 · Virkested
Antwerp
1633
Jailed in the Antwerp Citadel
The reason for the imprisonment is unclear: possibly tax evasion, or perhaps politics, as the local authorities may have considered Brouwer a spy for the Dutch Republic.
1633
Meets Joos van Craesbeeck in the Citadel
The bakery in the Citadel was run by the baker Joos van Craesbeeck, and the two are assumed to have met there. According to the biographer Cornelis de Bie, Craesbeeck became Brouwer's pupil and best friend, which the similarity of his early work to Brouwer's seems to confirm.
januar 1638
Died