Brilliant, painting over 4,000 oil paintings in little more than 15 years, arrested as a French spy, and finally succumbed to bouts of heavy drinking and mounting debts.
guinea pigs
Introduced to Europe from the New World in the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I loved them, and Jan Brueghel the elder and his son included them in many of their paintings.
First shown at the Royal Academy when only 10, this true genius had a colourful but tragically short life.
The Eclectic Light Company 