 Later he switched to history painting, working on larger formats in a Flemish Baroque style which was influenced by Rubens and van Dyck.Simon de Vos was born in Antwerp as the son of the dice maker Herman de Vos and Elisabeth van Oppen.At only 12 years old de Vos started his art studies in 1615 with the eminent portrait painter Cornelis de Vos (1584 – 1651), to whom he was not related.