c. 1574
Departure for Italy
Having trained in Cologne under the Flemish portrait painter Georg Jerrigh and probably having joined the painters' guild, the 22-year-old sets off for Italy. Venice attracts him first.
1575
Trip to Rome
He studies antique sculptures and the works of Italian masters and joins the circle of northern artists active in Rome: Otto van Veen, Joris Hoefnagel, the brothers Paul and Matthijs Bril, Hans Speckaert and Joseph Heintz the Elder. He secures a commission for a Nativity for the Church of the Gesù, the mother church of the Jesuits.
1587
Return to Germany
After long years in Italy he returns to his homeland, first to Augsburg, where he paints portraits for the wealthy Fugger family; he also works in Munich, where he is commissioned to paint two altarpieces for the church of St Michael (other accounts date his return to about 1588).
1589
Chooses Munich as his residence
After visiting his native Cologne and making another trip to Venice, he chooses Munich as his residence and paints several works for Duke William V of Bavaria. Under the influence of the strictly Catholic court he develops an iconography strongly shaped by Counter-Reformation ideas.
1594
Raised to the nobility
Emperor Rudolf II, who had appointed him court painter two years earlier, raises the artist to the nobility.
1596
Move to Prague
Having married Regina, daughter of the court composer Orlando di Lasso, in Munich, he moves with her to Prague, where he stays for the rest of his life (other accounts date the move to 1597 or even 1601); the family had five children. He had been court painter since 1592 but was not obliged to live at court and had previously worked from Munich.