Pieter van der Hulst was a Dutch Golden Age

Dutch Golden Age

The Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterised by the Eighty Years' War till 1648...

 painter.

Biography

According to Houbraken he travelled to Rome in 1674 where he received the nickname "Zonnebloem" (sunflower) for his preference for a "wilder sort of flower" than Jan Davidsz de Heem or Daniel Seghers

Daniel Seghers

Daniel Seghers was a Jesuit brother and Flemish Baroque painter who specialized in flower still lifes, and is particularly well-known for his contributions to the genre of "flower garland" painting. His paintings were collected enthusiastically by courtly patrons and he had numerous imitators...

. He decorated his flower paintings with wild herbs, snakes, toads, salamanders, and that sort of thing. Later he tried his hand at painting portraits, but these were nowhere near as popular as his earlier work.

According to the RKD he was a pupil of Willem Doudijns

Willem Doudijns

-Biography:According to the RKD he learned to draw from Alexander le Petit, and he spent 12 years in Italy. He returned home in 1661, where he collaborated with Jan de Bisschop on engravings. Both he and Bisschop were founding members of the Confrerie Pictura and Doudijns painted a large ceiling...

 in 1668 and travelled to Rome from 1674-1677, where he concentrated on painting flowers and received the bentname "Zonnebloem". He is registered in the Hague from 1681-1683, where he became a member of the Confrerie Pictura

Confrerie Pictura

The Confrerie Pictura was a more or less academic club of artists founded in 1656 in The Hague, by local art painters, who were unsatisfied by the Guild of Saint Luke there.-History:The guild of St...

. From 1691-1699 he was in Denmark, and then he returned to Dordrecht.