The Formative Years of a Flemish Visionary In the vibrant, intellectually charged atmosphere of seventeenth-century Brussels, the foundations of Gillis van Tilborgh’s artistry were laid. Born around 1625, most likely in Brussels, he grew up within a family of artists. He is believed to have first learned the nuances of the brush from his father, Gillis van Tilborgh the Elder, before continuing his training with David Teniers the Younger, who had moved from Antwerp to Brussels around 1650 as court painter to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. From Teniers he took b…