Very little is known of Otto Hoynck except that he was an animal painter from The Hague where he studied under Arnold van Ravestyn (1625-1690) and that he worked in England in around 1670. Before that he had been the Dean and Inspector of the Picture Brotherhood in 1651 and in 1661 Master of the Guild of St Luke in The Hague. While in England he seems to have painted animal pictures and become the ‘painter to the Duke of Albermarle’. We know that he signed a picture of a winner greyhound which belonged to the Duke of Albermarle in 1672. He also signed a picture of Lord Shaftesbury’s collar in 1671 and worked for William II, the Prince of Orange-Nassau. His last recorded document, which is perhaps his will, is in Amsterdam and is dated 1686, the year of his death.