(b Antwerp, 1593; d Antwerp, 12 July 1637). Flemish painter. He was the son of the landscape painter TOBIAS VERHAECHT, the first teacher of Rubens. Willem grew up in a cultivated milieu of art and humanism and was taught to paint by his father. In 1615 he went to Paris, where he stayed until 1619; thereafter he travelled to Italy and in 1626–7 returned to Antwerp, where he became a master in the city’s Guild of St Luke. By 1628 he was employed by the patron, collector and amateur CORNELIS VAN DER GEEST as curator of his collection, a post he held until his death.

• Haecht, Willem van, II
  • patrons and collectors
    • Cabinet picture, §2: Pictures of collections
    • Catalogue, §2: Collection catalogues
    • Geest, Cornelis van der
  • printmakers
    • Vos, Marten de
    • Wierix: (1) Jan Wierix
    • Wierix: (3) Anton Wierix II
  • teachers
    • Verhaecht , Tobias
  • works
    • Allegory of art, §3: Kunstkammern
    • Collecting, §3: Paintings
    • Display of art, §II, 2: Paintings, c 1500–c 1700
    • Display of art, §III, 2(iv): Sculpture, c 1500–c 1700
    • Eyck, van: (2) Jan van Eyck, §1(iv): Other lost works
    • Vincidor, Tommaso
    • Wierix: (2) Jerome Wierix
  • writings
    • Emblem book, §2: History
    • Iconographic handbook, §2(iv): 12th–17th centuries: Other developments