"Balthasar van der Veen was born around 1596/97 in Amsterdam. From 1637 to about 1639 he is documented in Gorkum, then 1640 in Haarlem and from 1643 again in Amsterdam. In 1650 he settled temporarily in Naarden, seven years later his entry into the Amsterdam Guild of Saint Luke is documented. In the same year he moved to Haarlem, where he died at an unspecified time. He may have travelled to Italy and France, for contemporary poems of praise mention that he had found recognition in these countries.
Van der Veen is mainly known as a landscape painter. His small oeuvre also includes some views of the city."
