Biography

According to Houbraken, he learned to paint from his father Pieter van Bronckhorst

Pieter van Bronckhorst

Pieter Anthonisz van Bronckhorst or Bronkhorst , was a Dutch Golden Age painter.-Biography:According to Houbraken he was born at Delft in 1588. He excelled in painting the interiors of churches and temples, which he ornamented with small figures representing historical subjects...

, who died when he was thirteen. The young Bronckhorst was sent to work as a pastry baker for a cousin in Haarlem

Haarlem

Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...

. He drew as a hobby, and it remained a hobby until he moved back to Hoorn to get married. He specialized in painting plants, birds, and insects. Although he remained a pastry baker, he did very well with his watercolours, which were published in engravings and commemorated with a poem by Johannes Vollenhove.

His pupils were Hendrik Graauw

Hendrik Graauw

-Biography:According to Houbraken he first learned to paint from Pieter de Grebber in Haarlem.He then went to work for Jacob van Campen for eight years, until John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen returned from his travels and asked both van Campen and de Grebber to paint the cupola of the Huis ten...

 and Herman Henstenburgh

Herman Henstenburgh

Herman Henstenburgh , was a 18th century painter from the Northern Netherlands.-Biography:According Johan van Gool he was very good at copying prints and copied the watercolours of Pieter Holstein, which were so good that his parents let him become a pupil of Johannes Bronkhorst in 1683...

. Both Bronckhorst and Herman Henstenburgh worked for Agnes Block

Agnes Block

Agnes, or Agneta Block was a Dutch Mennonite art collector and horticulturalist. She is most remembered as the compiler of an album of flower and insect paintings.-Life:...

painting animals, insects and plants from her garden.