Allard Pierson

Pierson's father was a merchant in Amsterdam, his mother an author of pietist works.

The Walloon-origin family was prominent in the Christian revival movement of the Reveil and attended the meetings of Isaac da Costa and Nicolaas Beets.

He became a Protestant minister in Leuven in 1854, and in 1857 in the Walloon church in Rotterdam, where he was highly esteemed.

[1] From 1877 to 1895 Pierson was professor in history of art, aesthetics and modern languages at the University of Amsterdam.

In 1878 Pierson published his book about the Sermon on the Mount and other passages from the synoptic gospels.