Born in 1627/28, baptised in Utrecht on 3 January 1628. Son of the cavalry captain in the service of the States General Gerrit Rutgersz. van Bemmel and Elsje (Eisken) Philipszen van der Elburch. He was the older brother of Willem van Bemmel, the progenitor of the painter family later residing in Nuremberg. The dates on his paintings are 1650, 1652, 1654, 1655 and 1658 (?). He joined the painters' guild in Utrecht in 1654. In 1655 he lived in Blauwkapel (near Utrecht), where on 19 August he married Barbara Wassenbergh (Wassenburgh). A son, Rutger, was baptised on 16 November 1656 in Blauwkapel. Numerous other children from this marriage were baptised later in Utrecht. In 1655 and 1656, he served as sexton in the church in Blauwkapel. From 1661 he is documented as a painter in Utrecht with changing addresses. In 1665 he was the head of the painting college there. His death was announced on 22 September 1673. Some two dozen of the painter's landscapes are known, predominantly views of Dutch meadows and rivers. Milking maids and hunters are typical staffage. Depictions of places that can be identified topographically, like the Wittevrouwenpoort in Utrecht, are rare. In addition, there are a few idealised southern landscapes.
