Background
De Keyser was a son of the architect and sculptor Hendrik de Keyser.
De Keyser was a son of the architect and sculptor Hendrik de Keyser.
We have no definite knowledge of his training, and but scant information as to the course of his life. According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History, he was a pupil of Cornelis van der Voort. The landscape painter Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruisdael painted a landscape as a background to one of his group portraits.
In the 1640s, de Keyser received very few painting commissions, and was forced to seek income elsewhere.
He owned a basalt business from 1640 until 1654, when he returned to painting.