He was apprenticed to a Mechelen watercolorist and tempera painter at the age of fourteen.
He is known for his landscapes, allegorical and biblical scenes, and genre paintings in a Northern Mannerist style. He trained for two years in Heidelberg and upon his return he was admitted as master of the Mechelen Guild of Saint Luke. After the fall of Calvinist Mechelen to the Spanish in 1572, he left his hometown and became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1574.
When 10 years later Antwerp is also recaptured by the Spanish, Hans Bol left the Southern Netherlands and travelled via Bergen-op-Zoom, Dordrecht and Delft to Amsterdam where he resided until his death.