A river landscape with travellers on a path near a waterfall, a small village beyond

The Amsterdam-born artist was one of the greatest influence in the development of landscape painting in the United Provinces, introducing to the field a naturalism that was to become a hallmark of the genre. It is generally assumed that he may have studied with Gillis van Conincxloo, who had settled in Amsterdam in 1595, and perhaps subsequently with David Vinckboons; from them, he absorbed elements of the Flemish landscape tradition that were to prove crucial to the development of his art and, through him, the Haarlem school of painting. Esaias moved to Haarlem in 1609, where he was to stay until 1618, entering the Guild of Saint Luke in that city in 1612. His succes as a painter in those years is illustrated by his taking on Jan van Goyen and Pieter de Neijn as apprentices, whose early works strongly reflect the influence of their teacher.