The Bridge Between Flanders and Italy: The Life of Cornelis de Wael In the vibrant, swirling currents of the seventeenth-century art world, few figures embodied the spirit of international exchange as gracefully as Cornelis de Wael. Born in the illustrious artistic hub of Antwerp in 1592, De Wael was a child of tradition, descending from a lineage where every breath seemed steeped in pigment and parchment. His father, Jan de Wael I, was a respected painter, and his maternal heritage connected him to the great cartographer Gerard de Jode. This rich, ancestral tapestry of Flemish craftsmanship…