 Hooft, while his grandfather Laurens Baeck was a close friend of Joost van den Vondel.Laurens studied in Utrecht from 1647, and later liked to be called lord of Wulverhorst, an estate near Utrecht his father had bought in 1671.He was a member of the theater company "Nil volentibus arduum" and later of "In Magnis Voluisse Sat Est".