The date of his first known work shows that he became a painter around 1652 (he is often considered to be the same person then Roelandt van Vries who became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke of Leiden in 1653).

[3] On October 11, 1659, he published the banns of his marriage with Marytje Adriaens, from Haarlem, and married her in Amsterdam in 1659, at the age of 28.

We only know that the register of the Guild of Saint Luke of Amsterdam, kept by Vincent van der Vinne, mentions him as dead in 1702.

Stylistically close to Jacob van Ruisdael, he also shows influences from Gillis Rombouts and Cornelis Decker,[4] which all worked in Haarlem.

[3] Roelof van Vries is often recognized by his way of very carefully painting walls and foliage, adorning them with small golden dots,[3] such as Meindert Hobbema and Klaes Molenaer.