Jan Snellinck or Jan Snellinck (I) (c. 1548 – 1 October 1638) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and designer of tapestries, prints and frescoes. He is known for his large altarpieces and was also recognized as a leading battle painter in his time. Snellinck was active as an art dealer and art collector. Life Jan Snellinck was born in Mechelen, the son of Daniël Snellinck I, a painter and hawker, and Cornelia Verhulst (alias: Bessemeers). His mother came from a family of established artists in Mechelen. Her father and numerous uncles were painters. Her sister Mayken Verhulst married the prominent painter Pieter Coecke van Aelst and was the mother-in-law of Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Another sister Elisabeth married the prominent printmaker and publisher Hubertus Goltzius. Jan Snellinck maintained a close relationship with the Brueghel family and was a witness at the weddings of both Pieter Brueghel the Younger in 1588 and Jan Brueghel the Elder in 1599. He was also present at the banquet held on the return of the latter from his study trip to Italy. Snellinck studied with his father as a watercolor painter. He converted to the Calvinist faith but converted back to Catholicism after the Spanish retook Flanders. In 1574 Snellinck was in Antwerp where he got married on 10 July of that year to Helena de Jode, a daughter of the printmaker and publisher Gerard de Jode. The couple had three sons named Daniel, Gerard and Jan who all trained under their father to become painters. A grandson called Cornelis and a great grandson called Jan were painters in Rotterdam. His first wife died on 12 September 1581. He remarried in 1586 to Paulina Cuypers (alias Boschmans), who was a relative (possibly the sister) of the mother of Anthony van Dyck. The couple had 10 children of whom three sons became painters. Snellinck became a master of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1577. During his initial years in Antwerp Snellinck relied more on his art dealing than on his art making to make a living. In 1577 he received his first pupil and the next one would follow only five years later. Of the 16 pupils he would receive during his very long career, only Abraham Janssens would make a name for himself. Snellinck became a poorter (burger) of Antwerp on 27 June 1597. Snellinck gradually established a reputation as evidenced by the