PEETERS, Gillis I

Flemish painter, member of a family of marine and landscape painters. He became a master of the Antwerp guild of St Luke in 1634 along with his brother Bonaventura, with whom he is known to have shared a studio in Antwerp. His oeuvre consists chiefly of landscapes, many of which reveal a debt to the work of Paul Bril. In 1637-38 he accompanied to Brazil Johan Maurits van Nassau (byname The Brazilian, 1604-1679). Van Nassau was the Dutch colonial governor and military commander who consolidated Dutch rule in Brazil (1636-44), thereby bringing the Dutch empire in Latin America to the peak of its power.