Brief Biography-Cornelis de Wael was the younger brother of the artist Lucas de Wael, a student of Jan Brueghel, the Elder. He was the son of the painter Jan Baptist de Wael 1, and his mother was also from a family of artists. Cornelis took his instruction from his father. He was born in Antwerp, and sometime after 1610, he went to Genoa with his brother Lucas where they settled. In Italy, he taught art, and he was primarily a Battaglista, a painter of battle scenes, and was renowned for genre and history paintings. He received commissions from Duke d’Arschot and King Philip III of Spain, who highly praised his works; he also received commissions from churches in Italy. The two brothers became acquainted with Anthony van Dyck who painted their portrait together. Cornelis travelled to Rome in 1656 due to the plague in Genoa, where he joined the Schildersbent or Bentvueghels and became a member of the Guild of St Luke in Rome; Lucas settled back in Antwerp in 1628.