Crispin van den Broeck

Who was Crispin van den Broeck?

Crispin van den Broeck was a Flemish painter. He was born in Mechelen. He came from a family of artists, was probably trained by his father, and was the brother of Willem van den Broeck and Hendrick van den Broeck. He worked as a painter, draftsman and engraver. He was enlisted as a master in the Guild of St. Luke of Antwerp in 1555–6, where he became a citizen in 1559.

In Antwerp he was a collaborator of Frans Floris with whom he remained until the master’s death in 1570. According to Karel van Mander, Crispin van den Broeck and Frans Pourbus the elder completed an altarpiece for the Grand-Prior of Spain left incomplete at the time of Floris’s death. Van Mander also claimed that Crispin van den Broek was 'a good inventor... clever at large nudes and just as good an architect'. Crispin van den Broek died in Antwerp sometime between 1589 and 6 February 1591.