He preferred Lucas van Leyden to Virgil, and his parents, accepting the situation, allowed him to study painting under Swanenburch, and later in the studio of Lastman at Amsterdam.

After a few months with Lastman he returned to Leyden, "to practise painting alone and in his own way." So much for his schooling.

At the age of twenty-one he produced a picture called _St.Paul in Prison_, and Gerard Dou became his pupil.

In 1631 he left Leyden and settled in Amsterdam.

In 1634 he married Saskia van Uylenborch, who bore him three children, and Titus was the youngest.