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| Pieter van Laer View of Rome from the Colosseum before 1642 etching Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Pieter van Laer Italian landscape with figures at a roadside fountain before 1647 drawing British Museum |
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| Pieter van Laer Halt of gipsies at a country inn built into a cliff before 1647 drawing British Museum |
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| Pieter van Laer Herdsmen in a cave at night before 1642 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
"Pieter van Laer was an extraordinary artist in several respects. According to Joachim van Sandrart he had long legs, a short trunk and no neck, which is why he was given the nickname Il Bamboccio, 'the clumsy puppet' in Rome. Artists who imitated him and also painted genre scenes were consequently called Bamboccianti and their works were known as bambocciate. Their scenes of everyday street life are a counterweight to the many biblical and classical themes that were illustrated in Italy. . . . According to Sandrart, Van Laer went to Rome by way of France – the usual route – and remained there for 16 years. In 1625 he was living under the name Pietro Laurins novo ('newly arrived') in the Strada della Croce. Pietro was recorded again in Rome in 1638. Sandrart, who had arrived in Rome in 1629, regarded him as his best friend."
– Peter Schatborn, from the catalogue of a 2001 exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, published in English as Drawn to Warmth: 17th-century Dutch artists in Italy, translated by Lynne Richards
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| Pieter van Laer Landscape with two trees before 1647 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Pieter van Laer Study of a peasant washing his feet before 1647 drawing British Museum |
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| Pieter van Laer Shepherd and washerwomen at a spring ca. 1630-37 oil on copper Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Pieter van Laer Interior of a barn with two donkeys and a dog seen through the door 1636 etching British Museum |
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| Pieter van Laer The Spinner and the Blacksmith before 1642 etching Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Pieter van Laer Cowherd with two buffaloes 1636 etching British Museum |
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| Pieter van Laer Three horses in a field 1636 etching National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Pieter van Laer Two dead horses before 1647 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Pieter van Laer Two horsemen fighting before 1642 etching National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Caspar Jacobsz Philips Portrait of Pieter van Laer before 1789 etching Philadelphia Museum of Art |
"Pieter van Laer (1599-1642?) – Dutch painter and etcher, born and trained Haarlem, in Rome from about 1625 to about 1638 when he returned to Holland. In 1642 left Holland for Rome and was never heard of again. The son of Jacob Claesz Boddingh, although he never used his father's name. The name van Laer was probably taken from his brother's godfather."
– biographical note from the British Museum