According to Arnold Houbraken, "Tempeest" was the son of Pieter de Molijn, not Pieter Mulier. He could paint quite well, but he emigrated to Rome at a young age and became a member of the Bentvueghels with the nickname "Tempeest". He was thought to be a man of 50 by Isaac de Moucheron when he was in Rome ("Bent" name "Ordenantie") in 1697. He specialized in "wilde zwynenjagten", or hunting scenes, in the manner of Frans Snyders. In Genoa he was imprisoned for 16 years for killing his wife. He was visited in prison by Jan Visser, a painter from the Bentvueghels known as "Slempop". When the French bombarded the city in 1684, he was set free and fled to Parma, where he lived to old age, painting with "two eyeglasses, one in front of the other".