[3] Once Mol chose to make art his livelihood, he was tutored by the Haarlem painter Hermanus van Brussel.

[1] But since Mol showed much more interest in historical paintings, he took lessons from Jacques-Louis David (the famous historical painter who also taught there) and in 1807 he was awarded the Dutch Prix de Rome from King Louis Napoleon of Holland and received a scholarship as "Hollandsch Kweekeling" (Hollandic pupil) to study and work in Paris.

[4] After the restoration of the Netherlands in 1813, he returned to his home town Haarlem where he further developed his talent by studying the Dutch masters, for which the Amsterdam museum offered him plenty of opportunity.

[3][1] Even though he submitted multiple portraits during that very exhibition, this excellent work also caused rumors about his (lack of) portraiture abilities since it was not entirely by his own hand.

Mol had a nervous breakdown, and in 1846 he entered the "Rooms-Katholieke Wees- en armenhuis" (the Catholic almshouse, or "Diaconie", which building is currently in use as a police station) in Haarlem, where he died in 1857.