received a pupil named Niclaes Ficet in his Antwerp workshop in 1577. In 1584, van de Broeck resided in Middelburg for a short time to escape the political and religious unrest in Antwerp. His name was last mentioned in the Guild records of 1589 in connection with a payment. His wife is mentioned as a widow on 6 February 1591. Chrispijn van den Broeck must therefore have died sometime between 1589 and 6 February 1591, most likely in Antwerp. Work Van Mander stated that Chrispijn van den Broeck was 'a good inventor... clever at large nudes and just as good an architect'. The latter may refer to his involvement in temporary constructions and decorations during festivities in the city, such as the theatre competition called the Landjuweel held in Antwerp in 1561 and the Joyous Entries in Antwerp of 1570 and 1582. About 23 paintings are attributed to Chrispijn van den Broeck, some of which are signed. From 16th and 17th century inventories in Antwerp van den Broeck's work is regularly mentioned, which indicates that his output must have been larger. While there is no evidence that the artist visited Italy, his work shows the influence of the Venetian Jacopo Bassano in the use of large, solid figures placed within a landscape. As he was a pupil of the Romanist Frans Floris who did study in Italy he may have received the Italian influence through his master. He may also have seen prints after Italian artworks. Van den Broeck further adopted Floris technique of applying a brown preparatory ground underneath the main colours of his paintings. As a result his works typically display a brown hue. His palette favours pink, brown, grey and yellow tones. Van den Broeck's painting Two Young Men (Fitzwilliam Museum) is a double portrait of two cheerful young men or adolescent boys. They are wearing fancy clothes in Italian fashion which were likely also worn by fashionable young men in 16th century Flanders. Their embrace and smiling glances show that the relationship between the two men is close. The boy in black seems to be offering his friend an apple while he looks at the viewer with a smile. The other boy looks with a smile at the boy in black. While an apple was often used as a symbol of physical love, it would be wrong to assume the painting depicts two homosexual lovers. The