A Life Between Two Worlds The life of Peeter Stalpaert is a narrative of migration and adaptation, mirroring the turbulent religious and political shifts of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1572, Stalpaert was the son of Jeremyas, a skilled tapestry worker. His family likely belonged to the Protestant faith, a conviction that prompted them to flee the Southern Netherlands following its reconquest by Spanish forces in 1585. This movement led them to settle in Delft in 1588, beginning a journey that would eventually see the artist establish himse…