Background
After being instructed in the first elements of the art by his father, he was sent to Amsterdam, where he became a scholar of Michiel van Musscher, a painter of small portraits and conversations, under whom he studied a short time, but being ambitious of distinguishing himself in a higher walk of art, and the works of Gerard de Lairesse being then in high reputation, he entered the school of that eminent master, whose instruction enabled him in a few years to dispense with further assistance.
