Job Berckheyde, an older brother of Gerrit Berckheyde's, was baptised in Haarlem on 27 January 1630 as a son of Adriaen Joppen Berckheyde from Katwijk on the Rhine (near Leiden) and Cornelia Gerrets. Initially apprenticed by his father to a bookbinder, on 2 November 1644 he entered the workshop of the history painter Jacob Willemsz. de Wet as a drawing pupil. Houbraken tells us that after his training he spent some time on the Old Rhine between Utrecht and Leiden making portraits of farmers ('dorpelingen'). His earliest dated painting, 'Abraham's Servant Distributing Gifts to Laban, Rebecca and Her Mother' (Hoogveld auction, Amsterdam, 29 October 1912), was realised in 1653. On 10 June of that year the Haarlem Guild of St Luke reminded him of a debt, and in 1654 it accepted him as a member. In the 1650s he and his brother travelled up the Rhine by way of Cologne and Bonn to Heidelberg, where they worked at the court of the elector Karl-Ludwig, who honoured them with a medal. After their return the brothers maintained a household in Haarlem with an unmarried sister, Aechje. In 1660 Gerrit also joined the guild. In 1666 Job became a member of the Haarlem rhetorical society 'De Wijngaardranken', which he served as 'factor' in 1673 and 1681 and later directed as 'keizer'. In 1682 he was one of the jurors of the Guild of St Luke, but failed to take part in most of the monthly meetings, perhaps on account of illness. In 1685 he appears to have lived in Amsterdam, where Cornelis Dusart had summoned him to prepare for auction the paintings in an estate (of Adriaen van Ostade?). He died on 23 November 1693 in Haarlem. The sum spent on his burial suggests that he was well-to-do. Job Berckheyde was more versatile than his brother Gerrit, who specialised in city views. In addition to biblical illustrations, he is known to have painted genre motifs, bakeries, architectural studies, city views, landscapes with staffage, a few portraits and a still life. His history paintings show the influence of his teacher De Wet. His architecture painting is close to that of Pieter van Saenredam and Emanuel de Witte.
