A mountainous landscape with travellers being ambushed

Berchem was received into the Haarlem guild in May 1642. He was then painting mostly idealised countrysides with shepherds or travellers. In the beginning of the 1650s, he probably made a trip to Italy as his work took on a southern luminosity, more freedom, and a wider range of subjects. Allegory, mythology and genre scenes from then on would become more frequent in his oeuvre. During this period, his works became larger and brighter under the influence of the immense decors and the Italian 'grand style'. The 1650s were pivotal in the career of the artist.

Initially deeply influenced by the great landscape artists of his time such as Van Goyen, Ruisdael, Jan Asselijn and Jan Both, Berchem then found his own style. He moved from traditional horizontal compositions to vertical or square formats that were more decorative. After 1655, Berchem painted in a similar vain to his contemporary Jan Baptist Weenix scenes representing ports and he was one of the pioneers of refined aristocratic painting which corresponded with the taste of the rich Dutch middle class.

Berchem was one of the most important Dutch artists and the most influenced by the Italian style. He was without a doubt extremely versatile and very productive: five hundred drawings, more than six hundred paintings and fifty etchings carry his signature.