The son of a painter of Leiden, he studied and worked there until about 1650, when he settled in Amsterdam. He began with religious subjects, but sacred art was unsuited to his temperament: he turned to the life of the marketplace and of the drawing room, which he painted with equal facility. Among his better-known works are “The Music Lesson” and “The Artist and His Wife” (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City), and “The Duet” (National Gallery, London).