Bartholomeus Breenbergh

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Bartholomeus Breenbergh (Deventer, 1598 - Amsterdam, 1657) was a Dutch painter.

Breenbergh established himself in Amsterdam and then in 1619 went to Rome. There he lived and worked with the Flemish painter Frans van de Kasteele and was heavily influenced by another Fleming, the landscapes painter Paul Bril. From 1623, however, he came completely under the spell of Italian landscapes by the somewhat older Cornelis van Poelenburgh - indeed, the works of Breenbergh and van Poelenburgh are sometimes very difficult of tell apart. Breenbergh in his turn influenced the French painter Claude Lorrain. Breenbergh was one of the founders of the 'Bentvueghels', where he was nicknamed "het fret".

In 1633 Breenbergh returned to Amsterdam, where he remained until his death, and where he made paintings and etchings of Italian buildings. There he was influenced by the pre-Rembrandtists such as Pieter Lastman and Nicolaes Moeyaert, but he placed their Biblical and mythological scenes in Italian landscapes.