The renowned Flemish mannerist David Vinckboons was born at Mechelen in 1576. He received first lessons in art from his father Philipp I. Vinckboons, who, in Mechelen tradition, painted in watercolors on canvas, these "laken" (woolen cloth) imitated expensive tapestries. It is very likely that David Vinckboons also worked in this Mechlinian tradition at the beginning of his career.
The days of Confessionalization were turbulent times in the Netherlands. The Vinckboons family felt increasingly persecuted in Flanders, which is why they left Mechelen and went to the northern provinces. The Vinckboons settled at Middelburg in 1586 and in Amsterdam by 1591 the latest, because the father received the city's rights in 1591.
David Vinckboons found a wife in his new place of residence, he married Agneta van Loon, daughter of a jurist, in Leeuwarden in 1602. The couple had no less than ten children.
David Vinckboon's paintings, mostly landscapes with exuberant genre staffage, follow the style of Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Accordingly, David Vinckboons established a typical Flemish picture type in the north of Holland. His paintings became popular and expensive collector items during the artist's lifetime. Many paintings by David Vinckboons were also spread in reproduction engravings, consequently, the image world of David Vinckboons was quite influential for the development of later artist generations.
David Vinckboons died in Amsterdam in 1632.