in the same year he left for rome. there he lived and worked with the flemish painter frans van de kasteele and was heavily influenced by another fleming resident, the landscape painter paul bril. from 1623, however, he came under the spell of italian landscapes by the somewhat older cornelis van poelenburgh—indeed, the works of breenbergh and van poelenburgh are sometimes difficult to tell apart. he was also influenced by nicolaes moeyaert. breenbergh in his turn influenced the french landscape-painter claude lorrain (who arrived in the city about 1620). in about 1620 breenbergh became one of the founders of the roman society of dutch and flemish painters, the "bentvueghels", among whom he was nicknamed "het fret" ("the ferret").