Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero was born on 16 March 1585 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic,[1] where he lived his whole life.

He was the third child of Marry Gerbrants and Adriaen Cornelisz Bredero, who was a shoemaker and a successful real estate agent.

Later he was educated as an artist by the Antwerp painter Francesco Badens,[1] but none of his paintings have survived.

The only public position Bredero achieved was as vaandrig or standard bearer of the civic guard.

On 23 August 1618, at the age of 33, Bredero suddenly died, shortly after he had recovered from pneumonia that he had contracted after falling through ice.