Jacob van Swanenburg (1571, Leiden – 1638, Leiden), was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He was the oldest of the three sons of Isaac van Swanenburg and a master of the young Rembrandt.
According to Houbraken, Swanenburg learned to paint from his father, who had been a pupil of Frans Floris.[1]
According to Houbraken and the Netherlands Institute for Art History, Swanenburg left for Venice ca. in 1591, was in Naples for ten years from 1605 to 1615 and married there.[2] He returned to Leiden without his family, and then two years later in 1617 made another trip back to Naples to move his household definitely back to Leiden, where he became a successful painter.[2][1] He is registered as a master of the young Rembrandt in 1620 and died in 1638 while on a trip to Utrecht.[2]