Early Life and Artistic Beginnings Pieter van Avont, a name resonating softly through the annals of 17th-century Flemish painting, was baptized on January 14th, 1600, in Mechelen, a city steeped in artistic tradition. Though some early accounts mistakenly place his birth in Lier, it was within the walls of Mechelen that young Pieter first encountered the world of visual creation. His father, Hans van Avont, a sculptor by trade, undoub…