Dutch painter. His father apprenticed him to a mason, where he stayed a few years but decided to study further, specifically the fields of mathematics and architecture. His parents could not pay for a proper education, and he became good enough at masonry that he began to teach others. He became friends with painters, particularly landscape painter Esaias van de Velde, who helped him with his paints and gave him tips how to become a good landscape painter. He painted landscapes and battle scenes, and was a pupil from 1611 to 1617 of Esaias van de Velde in Haarlem during the same period as Jan van Goyen, who also influenced his work. After 1617 he moved back to Leiden where he married. //