Biography

Molenaer was born and died in Antwerp. According to Karel van Mander he was called Schele Neel, or "near-sighted Neal". He was a good landscape painter with little feeling for figures. He hired himself out for a day's wages (one daalder) and could paint a complete landscape in one day in the "watercolor way", without a maulstick

Maulstick

A maulstick, or mahlstick, is a stick with a soft leather or padded head, used by painters to support the hand that holds the brush. The word is an adaptation of the Dutch maalstok, i.e...

. For a grassy field he charged 7 stuiver

Stuiver

The stuiver was a pre-decimal coin used in the Netherlands It was worth 16 penning or 8 duit. Twenty stuivers equalled a guilder.It circulated until the Napoleonic Wars...

s. He enjoyed drinking, which was as usual, blamed on his wife, who would often collect his wages in advance. Works in progress at home were seldom finished, which is perhaps why he became a wage-earner, so that patrons could keep an eye on his work. He was followed by the painter Jan Nagel

Jan Nagel (painter)

Jan Nagel was a Dutch Renaissance painter.-Biography:Nagel was born in Haarlem. Houbraken mentions him only as the teacher of Claes Jacobsz van der Heck....

, who couldn't match his style of landscapes, but was better at figures.

According to the RKD he collaborated on landscapes with Gillis Coignet and Gillis Mostaert.