De Grebber wrote down his rules for painting. His 1649 treatise laid out eleven principles for classicist painters, making him one of the few Dutch Golden Age artists to codify painting theory. The rules reflected his practice: Catholic devotional painting in a Protestant country, blending Rubens's colour with Rembrandt's light.

He was born in Haarlem around 1600 into a Catholic artistic family, trained by his father and by Hendrick Goltzius. He visited Antwerp in 1618 and absorbed Rubens firsthand. His commissions from Stadholder Frederik Hendrik for the palaces at Honselaarsdijk, Noordeinde and Huis ten Bosch were among the most prestigious in the Republic.