Editing Willem Drost

{{short description|Dutch painter}}

{{Infobox artist
| name        = Willem Drost
| image       = Willem Drost.jpg
| caption     = <small>''Willem Drost'' self-portrait (c. 1652-1654).</small>
| birth_name   = Willem Drost
| birth_date   = baptized 19 April 1633
| birth_place    = [[Amsterdam]]
| death_date   = buried 25 February 1659 (aged 25)
| death_place  = [[Venice]]
| nationality = Dutch
| field       = [[Painting]]
| movement    = [[Baroque]]
| website     =
}}
'''Willem Drost''' (baptized 19 April 1633 – buried 25 February 1659) was a [[Dutch Golden Age]] [[Painting|painter]] and [[printmaker]] of [[history painting]]s and portraits.

==Biography==
[[File:Willem Drost The Vision of Daniel 1650.jpg|thumb|left|300px|''The Vision of Daniel'', 1650, [[Gemäldegalerie, Berlin]]]]
[[Image:Willem Drost - Batsheba met de brief van koning David.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Bathsheba with King David's Letter]]'', 1654, oil on canvas, [[Louvre]].]]
He is a mysterious figure, closely associated with [[Rembrandt]], with very few paintings clearly attributable to him.<ref>Slive, 116</ref>

He was presumably born in [[Amsterdam]], in what was then known as the [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces]] of the Netherlands, but when and where is unknown. Around 1650, according to the early art historian [[Houbraken]], he became a student of Rembrandt, eventually developing a close working relationship, painting history scenes, biblical compositions, symbolic studies of a solitary figure, as well as portraits. As a student, his 1654 painting titled ''Bathsheba'' was inspired by Rembrandt's painting done in the same year on the same subject and given the same title, though their treatments are rather different; both Drost's and Rembrandt's paintings are in the [[Louvre]] in [[Paris]].

Houbraken described him as a painter of historical allegories and a pupil of Rembrandt.<ref name=Houbraken>{{in lang|nl}}<!--Middle Dutch--> [http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/houb005groo01_01/houb005groo01_01_0330.htm Willem Drost Biography] in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by [[Arnold Houbraken]], courtesy of the [[Digital library for Dutch literature]]</ref> Houbraken saw a ''Johannes Predicatie'' (Sermon of John) by him that was well composed and painted.<ref name=Houbraken/> He spent a long period in Rome where he became friends with [[Johann Carl Loth|Karel Lot]] and the well-to-do Utrecht painter [[Jan Vermeer van Utrecht|Joan vander Meer]], who had travelled to Italy in the company of the marine painter [[Lieve Verschuier]] in 1653 and became friends with him there.<ref name=Houbraken/>
[[File:Willem Drost - Portrait of a Young Man - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Portrait of a Young Man'' (c. 1654)]]
He was in Amsterdam until 1655 and then travelled to Italy.<ref name=RKD>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304134111/https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/24317 Willem Drost] in the [[RKD]]</ref> He influenced the painter [[Adolf Boy]].<ref name=RKD/>
Sometime in the mid-1650s, the young artist went to [[Rome]], where, again according to Houbraken, he collaborated with the German artist [[Johann Carl Loth]] on a lost series of the [[Four Evangelists]] in [[Venice]].<ref name="Slive, 117">Slive, 117</ref> He died in the latter city in 1659.<ref name=RKD/>

Willem Drost's recognized lifetime output of artwork is very small, while Rembrandt is credited with more than 2,000 paintings and etchings, the majority of which are not signed. In recent years, some paintings attributed to Rembrandt have had their authenticity come under question. The importance of these Rembrandt works is such that the Foundation [[Rembrandt Research Project]] was established in Amsterdam to review the attribution of all of his works. Scholars have now reattributed a number of Rembrandt's paintings to his pupils and associates.

==Legacy==
[[File:Willem Drost - Young Woman in a Brocade Gown.jpg|thumb|''Young Woman in a Brocade Gown'' (c. 1654), [[Wallace Collection]]]]
Drost was one of Rembrandt's most talented disciples, so much so that his 1654 painting titled: ''Portrait of a Young Woman with her Hands Folded on a Book'' was one of the ones attributed to Rembrandt for more than 300 years. As well, when the portrait of a young man on horseback titled ''[[The Polish Rider]]'' was discovered in 1897, it too was attributed to Rembrandt. Acquired by [[New York City]]'s [[Frick Collection]], ''The Polish Rider'' is one of the [[Frick Museum]]'s most valued treasures. For years, the painting's subject matter and purpose was questioned by many scholars, led by the renowned expert [[Julius S. Held]] in 1944. Starting in 1984, in a movement led by Dr. Josua Bruyn of the Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, some began to believe this great painting may also be that of Willem Drost as may be several others. The Frick Collection has not changed the attribution, and today it is generally believed that Rembrandt initiated the painting but had others help him finish it. These attributions remain controversial, but a reattribution of a group of "Rembrandt" drawings to Drost is more widely accepted.<ref name="Slive, 117"/>

==Selected works==
*1651: ''Ruth and Naomi on the road to Bethlehem'' – [[Ashmolean Museum]], [[Oxford]], England
*1652: ''Self Portrait of the Artist''
*1653: ''Portrait of a Man'' – ([[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[New York City]]);
[[File:Timothy-and-Lois.jpg|thumb|[[Timothy with his Grandmother Lois|''Timothy and Lois'']], 1650s, [[Hermitage Museum]]]] 
*1653: ''Portrait of a Woman'' – [[Museum Bredius]], [[The Hague]];
*1653:''The Philosopher'' – [[National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC]];
*c.1654: ''Young Woman in a Brocade Gown'' – [[The Wallace Collection]], [[London]];
*c.1654 ''[[Young Woman in a Pearl Necklace]]'' - [[Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister]], [[Dresden]], Germany;
*1654: ''Portrait of a Young Woman with her Hands Folded on a Book'' – [[National Gallery, London]], England;
*1654: ''Portrait of an Officer in a Red Beret'' – David Findlay Galleries, [[New York City]]
*1654: ''[[Bathsheba with King David's Letter]]'' – [[Louvre]], [[Paris]];
*c. 1655: ''Self Portrait as Saint John the Evangelist'' – [[Agnes Etherington Art Centre]], [[Kingston, Ontario]], [[Canada]]
*c.1655: ''Portrait of a Man Skimming a Book'', [[Louvre]], [[Paris]];
*1655: ''The Unmerciful Servant'' – The Wallace Collection, London, England;
*1655: "Flute Player" – [[Private collection|Private Collection]], Germany
*1655: ''Bust of man wearing a large-brimmed hat'' – (c.1655), [[National Gallery of Art]], [[Dublin, Ireland]];
*c.1656 ''Young Man with a Flute'' – [[Scandinavia]]: Private Collection
*c.1657: ''Old Woman Teaching a Child'' – [[Hermitage Museum]], [[St. Petersburg, Russia]]
*c.1658: ''Boy with a Recorder'' – Galleria Palatina, [[Florence]], [[Italy]];
*c.1659 ''The Oyster Seller'' – [[Louvre]], [[Paris]];
*c.1659: ''Mercury and Argus'': Staatliche Kunstsammlungen – [[Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister]], [[Dresden]], Germany;
*1659: ''St. Matthew and the Angel'' – [[North Carolina Museum of Art]], [[Raleigh, North Carolina]]
*c.1659: ''Abraham Casting Out Hagar & Ishmael'' – [[Guilford College]] Collection, [[Greensboro, North Carolina]]
*c.1650: ''Self Portrait of the Artist as John the Evangelist'', [[Bader Collection]], [[Milwaukee]];

Other paintings, date and owner presently unknown:
*''Portrait of a woman at her window''
*''Young Man, Half-Length Seated, in a Red Jacket and Broad-Brimmed Cap''
*''Saint-John the Evangelist in a Landscape''
*''A Young Woman, Bust Length, Wearing Traditional Costume''
*''A soldier, buckling his belt, a helmet on a table nearby''
* ''Portrait of a Geographer with compass, angle and globe'' (attributed to Willem Drost)

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book |
     title= Willem Drost: A Rembrandt Pupil in Amsterdam and Venice |
     author= Jonathan Bikker |
     author-link= Jonathan Bikker |
     year= 2006 |
     publisher= Yale University Press |
     isbn= 0-300-10581-9
   }}
*Seymour Slive, ''Dutch Painting, 1600–1800'', Yale UP, 1995, {{ISBN|0-300-07451-4}}

==External links==
*{{Commons-inline|Paintings by Willem Drost}}
*Media related to [https://vimeo.com/384618254 Willem Drost's Self-Portrait as Saint John the Evangelist] at Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Canada.

{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drost, Willem}}
[[Category:1633 births]]
[[Category:1659 deaths]]
[[Category:Painters from Amsterdam]]
[[Category:Dutch Golden Age painters]]
[[Category:Dutch male painters]]
[[Category:Dutch history painters]]
[[Category:Pupils of Rembrandt]]