Brief Biography-Adriaen Brouwer from Flanders is said to have been a pupil of Frans Hals in Haarlem and Adriaen van Ostade was a fellow student. Rumour had it that Hals mistreated him by overworking him. He moved to Antwerp in 1631, where he was impressed by Rubens when the Guild of Saint Luke and the rhetoricians’ chamber De Violieren admitted him. He was jailed by the Spaniards for political goings-on or spying in 1633. His prison baker, Joos van Craesbeck, became a friend and pupil. Rubens visited Duke D’Arenberg in the same prison and had Brouwer released. He gave him lodgings that Brouwer considered not much better than the prison, and Brouwer left Rubens due to his ill temper. Not long afterwards, he died due to a dissolute way of life.
His primary subjects were peasants smoking, drinking, and brawling in taverns. However, he did landscapes, and his work is of the Dutch character. In his later years, he painted numerous works in monochrome. Dirck Hals, the younger brother of Frans Hals, influenced his work. Anthony van Dyck painted his portrait in 1631-2. Rubens and Rembrandt collected many of his paintings, inspiring Jan Steen and David Teniers.