The son of a gardener, Jan Gerritsz van Bronchorst first apprenticed in Utrecht and France as a glass painter. In the 1620s, he received instruction in painting from Gerrit van Honthorst, but his earliest dated oil painting, the 1642 Idolatry of Solomon (Greenville, South Carolina, Bob Jones University Gallery), is from almost two decades later. From 1647, Van Bronchorst received commissions for monumental glass windows in Amsterdam which led to his move to that city around 1650. In 1652, he became a citizen of the city and remained there the rest of his life. His most important painting commissions in Amsterdam were for the decoration of the shutters of the new organ in the Nieuwe Kerk in 1655 showing scenes from the Life of King David (in situ) and the 1659 Moses Appointing Judges Over the People of Israel for the council chamber of the town hall (also in situ).