Bree

Bree, Matthias Ignatius van, painter, was born in 1773 at Antwerp. His Death of Cato won for him the Prix de Rome. On his return to his native town in 1814 he was appointed director of the Academy of Fine Arts. His most noted picture is Patriotism of the Burgomaster at the Siege of Leyden, 1576, representing the Burgomaster Van der Werff offering the starving populace his body to be shared amongst them.