Baptised on 18 June 1621 in Alkmaar, Allaert van Everdingen was the son of Pieter Cornelisz. van Everdingen, a notary and lawyer, and his second wife, Aechje Claesdr. Moer. His older brother was the painter Caesar van Everdingen (1617-1678). According to Houbraken, he was a pupil first of Roelant Savery (1578-1639) in Utrecht, and later of Pieter de Molijn (1595-1661) in Haarlem. In January 1639 he is documented in Haarlem; from August 1639 to 1645 in Alkmaar. His earliest dated painting, from 1640, is a seascape (formerly collection of Senator Clark, Montana). In 1644 he drew from nature at various spots in Norway and Sweden. On 21 February 1645 he married Janneke Cornelisdr. Brouwers in Haarlem. On 13 October 1645 he was received into the Reformed church there, and in 1646 he joined the Guild of St Luke. Between 1646 and 1651 four children were baptised, six more were baptised between 1654 and 1666 in Amsterdam. Two of his sons would become painters. He and his brother Caesar became members of the St George Militia in 1648. In 1652 Van Everdingen settled in Amsterdam, where he became a citizen on 10 April 1657. In the 1660s he travelled to the Ardennes, where he sketched the springs at Spa. From 1660 to 1662 he participated in the painted decoration of the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In 1661 he was assigned to appraise a painting by Jan Porcellis along with Jacob van Ruisdael and Willem Kalf. He died in 1675 in Amsterdam, where he was buried on 8 November. His widow's inheritance included a collection of paintings by noted Italian and Netherlandish masters, which suggests that in addition to his painting he also dealt in art. In his early years Van Everdingen painted seascapes in the manner of Jan Porcellis and Simon de Vlieger. After his return from Scandinavia he specialised in Nordic forest and mountain landscapes, which provided an alternative to the popular southern landscapes of the Italianists. To judge from numerous inventory entries with relatively high valuations, his compositions - which repeatedly combined such picturesque motifs as firs, waterfalls, boulders, log cabins and sawmills - were very popular in their time, especially in Amsterdam, and exercised an influence on Jacob van Ruisdael and other contemporaries. Their continuing influence can be traced into the nineteenth century to Johann Christian Dahl. Goethe regarded him highly as well. Van Everdingen is also known as a draughtsman. Among other things he produced a series of etchings for Reineke Fuchs. Ludolf Backhuysen (1630-1708) and Gerard van Edema (ca. 1652-ca. 1700) are said to have been his pupils.
