Schooled in Latin, French, and drawing, he spent time as a clerk (in a "comptoir"), but showed more talent for painting, which he learned from friend Bartholomeus Meyburgh, who was only 3 years older than he was.

On the way back they travelled through Bremervörde, where they met with the Swedish Army, and Pierson painted the portrait of Fieldmarshal Carl Gustaf Wrangel.

The fieldmarshal was so satisfied that he offered both men the chance of becoming court painter to Queen Christina, but they turned it down, Meyburgh because he didn't want to, and Pierson because he had only just gotten married 6 months beforehand.

[1] Upon his return to the Netherlands Pierson moved his household to Gouda, South Holland where, inspired by the success of Anthonie Leemans, he made a profitable living making similar trompe l'oeil paintings of hunting paraphernalia, birdcages, and weaponry.

After the death of his first wife, he remarried a woman from Schiedam and moved back there in 1679, where he lived until 1691 before returning to Gouda, where he later died.