Mars paying homage to Venus

Hoet began his career in Zaltbommel, near Utrecht, the pupil of his father, who painted in the style of Cornelis Poelenburg. In 1672, in the face of approaching war, he fled to The Hague, but soon moved to Paris where he stayed for a year. There, like Gérard de Lairesse, he was heavily influenced by the French academic tradition. Following his return to the United Provinces, Hoet worked in Utrecht and The Hague, specialising in cabinet-sized Arcadian landscapes with mythological or Biblical scenes.