The year after his birth, Hendrik Avercamp's family moved to Kampen, where the artist spent most of his life. Avercamp was a deaf-mute from birth, and was commonly known by his nickname, "de Stomme" or "de Stom," translated as "the mute" in Dutch. It is generally assumed that he was a pupil of the history and portrait painter Pieter Isaacks, in whose house in Amsterdam he is thought to have lived
