Teerlink received his training in Dordrecht from the genre painter Michiel Versteeg (1756–1843), and from Arie Lamme (1740–1801), under whose tutelage he first began to produce the landscape paintings that later became his speciality. From 1805 he participated in the Dordrecht drawing society, Pictura. In 1807 he was awarded the Prix de Rome, which enabled him to spend two years working in both Paris and Rome (from 1808). He remained in Rome for the rest of his life.
Teerlink’s early drawings (no paintings survive from before 1808) show that he grew up in the late 18th-century wall-paper painting tradition exemplified by the Van Strij brothers. At the same time he was also much influenced by Jan Both (1615-1652) and Jan Wijnants (1631-1684). Although Teerlink’s apprenticeship in Dordrecht and Paris was largely occupied with making copies of these and other 17th-century masters, once in Rome he concentrated increasingly on landscape painting, with which he soon achieved a great deal of success. His subjects, frequently Italian, were embellished with topographical details, and relatively large human figures and cattle. The artist’s Quarry at Belleville (1808; Dordrecht, Dodrechts Museum) and Waterfall near Tivoli (1824; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) are the best known examples of such work. The Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam, has a number of his drawings, including an Italian sketchbook.
