| Timeline |
| 1577 |
Born 28 June during the family's exile (they were converted Protestants) at Siegen , Westphalia |
| 1587 |
Father Jan dies and the family converts back to Catholicism and moves to Antwerp |
| 1587 |
Peter Paul attends a Latin school in Antwerp |
| 1598 |
Accorded the rank of master painter of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke |
| 1600 |
Travels to Venice |
| 1601 |
Arrives in Rome |
| 1601 |
Employed by the Duke of Mantua |
| 1603 |
Entrusted with his first diplomatic mission, taking gifts from Mantua to Philip III and the Spanish court |
| 1605 |
Obtains leave from the Duke of Mantua to continue his studies in Rome |
| 1608 |
Is summoned to his mother's deathbed in Antwerp, but she dies before he reaches home |
| 1609 |
Engaged as court painter to the Austrian archduke Albert and his wife, the Spanish infanta Isabella |
| 1609 |
Marries Isabella, daughter of Jan Brant |
| 1622 |
Visits Paris and is commissioned to paint the life of French queen Marie de Médicis |
| 1626 |
Wife dies |
| 1628 |
Sent to Spain by the Flemish viceroys |
| 1629 |
King Philip IV of Spain appoints him secretary of his Privy Council |
| 1629 |
Works to conclude a peace treaty between England and Spain |
| 1630 |
Knighted by King Charles I of England and awarded an honorary degree from Cambridge University |
| 1630 |
Returns to Flanders and marries Hélène Fourment |
| 1640 |
Dies 30 May in Antwerp |
