Jacob van Swanenburg was a Dutch Golden Age

Dutch Golden Age

The Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterised by the Eighty Years' War till 1648...

 painter. He was the oldest of the three sons of Isaac van Swanenburg

Isaac van Swanenburg

Isaak Nicolai or Isaac Claesz van Swanenburg , was a Dutch Renaissance painter and glazier active in Leiden and Gouda. He was a city council member from 1576 and became mayor of Leiden five times.-Biography:...

 and a master of the young Rembrandt.

Biography

According to Houbraken

Arnold Houbraken

Arnold Houbraken was a Dutch painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of artists from the Dutch Golden Age. He had ten children. His son Jacobus Houbraken was an engraver of portraits and book illustrations, including books by his father...

, Swanenburg learned to paint from his father, who had been a pupil of Frans Floris

Frans Floris

Frans Floris, or more correctly Frans de Vriendt, called Floris was a Flemish painter. He was a member of a large family trained to the study of art in Flanders.-Biography:...

.

According to Houbraken and the Netherlands Institute for Art History, Swanenburg left for Venice ca. in 1591, was in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 for ten years from 1605 to 1615 and married there. He returned to Leiden without his family, and then two years later in 1617 made another trip back to Naples to move his household definitely back to Leiden, where he became a successful painter. He is registered as a master of the young Rembrandt in 1620 and died in 1638 while on a trip to Utrecht.