 In 1659-1669 he was mayor of the Hague.He has been called "Van Poelenburch's best pupil", but Houbraken did not mention his teacher at all, and in Van Poelenburch's biography he claimed that his best pupil was "Joan vander Lis", not Dirk vander Lis.The RKD mentions both Dirck van der Lisse and Jan van der Lijs as being pupils of Van Poelenburch.