Nicolaes Berchem was born in Haarlem in 1620, as the son of the well-known still-life painter Pieter Claesz. It was his father who originally taught him to draw, but Berchem is subsequently said to have studied with a range of other painters, including Jan van Goyen, Pieter de Grebber, Jan Wils and Jan Baptist Weenix, who clearly influenced Berchem's early work. In 1642 he joined the painters' guild of St Luke in Haarlem and took on three apprentices that same year. He married Catrijne Claesdr. de Groot in 1646, and may have married a daughter of Jan Wils as his second wife. His son and namesake Nicolaes van Berchem (about 1649/50-72) also became a painter and copied many of his father's works. The elder Berchem moved between Haarlem and Amsterdam from the 1650s until 1670, when he finally settled in Amsterdam where he died on 18 February 1683.

It is unclear when and how often Berchem visited Italy, but it is highly likely that he went there in the 1640s or 1650s. Whereas his early works were inspired by typical Dutch landscapes such as those of Van Goyen, he subsequently turned to an Italianate style of landscape with more varied colours, showing pastoral scenes or panoramic vistas. Typical elements in his work are antique ruins, peasants herding their lifestock or travelling, and hills or mountains in the distance. He also painted history paintings and imaginary Mediterranean harbour scenes. He was a very prolific artist producing paintings, etchings and drawings, although many paintings have been misattributed to him. He had many pupils and followers, and his popularity continued through the eighteenth century until its decline in the later nineteenth century.