Berchem received instruction from his father, Pieter Claesz, a prominent still-life painter, and from several other Dutch masters. After study in Italy, he produced many landscapes in warm colours and an Italian style. He also painted cityscapes and winter and pastoral scenes, all in the tradition of Dutch naturalism enlivened by vivid colours and glowing light. His finest pictures are at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.