Nicolaes Gillis (1595 – 1632): The Dawn of Breakfast Still Life Nicolaes Gillis, born in Antwerp in 1595, stands as a beacon of innovation within the Dutch Golden Age artistic panorama. His formative years were indelibly marked by the intellectual ferment of Antwerp’s prestigious art academy, where he diligently cultivated his craft under the watchful guidance of masters such as Floris van Dyck – an association that would irrevocably shape his distinctive stylistic vision and compositional sensibilities. Recognizing Haarlem's burgeoning artistic dynamism around 1610, Gillis established a thr…