 In or before 1528, van Amstel moved to Antwerp; in that year he joined the city's Guild of Saint Luke.He married Adriane van Doornicke, who would after his death remarry and give birth in 1544 to the future painter Gillis van Coninxloo.He is also probably the older brother of Pieter Aertsen and the brother-in-law of Pieter Coecke van Aelst.