The landscape painter Jacob Grimmer, born around 1526 in Antwerp as the son of the mercenary Nicolaas Grimmer and his wife Elisabeth Cops, apprenticed to Gabriel Bouwens in 1539. According to Van Mander and Van den Branden he also learned from Matthijs Cock and Christiaan van den Queeckborne in Antwerp. In 1547 he was accepted as a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. On 10th April 1548 he married Lucia van den Wouwer, and bought the house "het Haentje" (No. 24) on the "Paddengracht" on 26th March 1550. Anthony de Baersie is listed as his pupil in 1557. Grimmer sold his house in 1566 and moved to the parish of Sint Joris for rent. His son Abel, born around 1575, was schooled as a painter in his father's studio and in 1592, two years after his father's death in Antwerp, was accepted as a master in the Guild of Saint Luke.
