[1] Born in Naarden, Haverkamp-Begemann spent most of his childhood in Kemerovo and Moscow in Russia, where his father worked as an engineer.

[3] Haverkamp-Begemann finished high school in Dordrecht, and initially studied law, but soon turned to art history.

Haverkamp-Begemann's dissertation was on the Dutch Golden Age painter Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech, which was supervised by Jan Gerrit van Gelder.

[5] In the following year, Haverkamp-Begemann was named Curator of Drawings and Prints of the Yale University Art Gallery, a position which he held until 1974.

He was named John Langeloth Loeb Professor in the History of Art, which later turned into an emeritus position upon retirement in 1988.