A sufficient number of Van Hoogstraten's works have been preserved to show that he strove to imitate different styles at different times.

[3] Van Hoogstraten's fame derives from his versatile career as a painter, poet and zealous social climber[citation needed].

[4][5] It covers issues such as pictorial persuasion and illusionism, the painter's moral standards and the relation of painting to philosophy, referring to various ancient and modern authors.

While reacting to international, mainly Southern European ideas on painting which Van Hoogstraten may have encountered during his travels, the treatise also reflects contemporary talk and thought on art from Dutch studios.

He wrote it as a sequel to Karel van Mander's early-17th-century book on painting and painters entitled Het Schilder-Boeck.

One of van Hoogstraten's many students, Arnold Houbraken, later wrote the book entitled The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters, which included a biography of his teacher.