Hoge, metselaer benoemt SIJN SOON Pieter de Hooch, schilder”. Which implies that not Charles Cornelisz. de Hooch, but Henrick de Hoge is Pieter’s father. Pieter de Hoogh lived in the same street as Hendrik de Hoogh during his marriage. A Hendrik de Hoogh was a witness during the baptism of Pieter’s daughter Anna. Pieter’s age coincides with the age on Hendrik’s son Pieter’s baptising. Works and style His works are very rare, but most of them are easily recognised by his distinguished signature. Works of Haarlem Period (1624-1628) The earliest works of de Hooch are dated around 1620, and were produced in Haarlem. These realistic paintings of the Dutch landscape belong, according to Flugi van Aspermont to the oldest school of Haarlem landscape painters, which distanced itself from the Flemish school of landscape painting. An example of one of those landscapes can be found in his Landscape with Travelers underneath a Dovecote. In the centre of this panel there is a wooden dovecote build on three trees; a man in a red shirt and blue pants is standing on a ladder which is placed to it. On the right is a ruin of a castle with a stork’s nest. In front of it there is a man accompanied by a dog. In the background there are trees surrounded by a clouded sky. This theme of a dovecote is also painted in a canvas painting in 1628, the year he moved to Utrecht, which de Hooch painted in Haarlem. At the bottom of the right is it signed “Chaerles dhooch” These two paintings of dovecotes look largely the same in terms of content, with the exception of the buildings in the right side. On the panel this is a ruin of a castle, while on the canvas this is a regular building. De Hooch was particularly admired for his ability to paint ruins, according to Ampzing. Works of Utrecht Period (1628-1638) His Utrecht period is characterized by Italianate landscapes and grotto paintings. The seventeenth century Dutch Italianate grotto painting that is characteristic of De Hooch’s Utrecht period owes its inception to Cornelis van Poelenbergh of Utrecht. Poelenbergh traveled to the south and, upon his return to Utrecht in the mid-1620s, he continued to depict Italianate landscapes featuring ruins and grottos. De Hooch was most likely involved in initiating this subject matter as an independent genre, along with other followers of Poelenbergh.