Born de Vriendt as the son of a stonecutter, the young Floris initially studied sculpture under his father but later focused entierly on the art of painting. After educational journeys to Liege and Italy, most notably Rome where he got deeply inspired by the paintings of Michelangelo and Tintoretto, he returned to Antwerp and opend up a workshop of the Italian model, with great success. The studio of Floris engaged a large number of artists including Lucas de Heere, Marten van Cleve, Isaac Claesz and Frans Francken. His art often shows a great influense of the Italian mannerism and he belongs to the group of Antwerp artists refered to as the Nederlandish Romanists.