Pieter Mulier was first recorded as a member of the Haarlem St. Luke guild of painters in 1640. He has traditionally been cited as a pupil of Salomon van Ruysdael although Mulier's work bears considerably stronger affinities to that of Jan Porcelis and to the Leiden school of marine painting rather than of Haarlem.

The artist primarily focused on shipping scenes in fresh breezes or storms. He was the teacher of his son, Pieter Mulier the Younger who left for Italy while he was still young and made a name for himself there, often referred to as "Cavaliere Tempesta" for his depictions of tempestuous marine paintings....