Pieter Saenredam was born in Assendelft in 1597, the son of the engraver Jan Saenredam. When Jan died in 1607 he left his wife and child a healthy legacy, having invested in the lucrative Dutch East India Company. Mother and son moved to Haarlem, where Pieter was apprenticed to Frans de Grebber for no less than eleven years. He was to live in Haarlem the rest of his life, although he regularly travelled around the country to paint in other Dutch cities. Saenredam focused almost from the start on architectural subjects. His depictions of church interiors formed the basis for an entirely new genre in Dutch art.