Cornelis Troost

1696 – 1750

The outstanding Dutch painter of the 18th century. He made his name early with a lively group portrait of the Amsterdam Inspectors of the Collegium Medicum (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1724) and continued to enjoy success as a formal portraitist and painter of conversation pieces. He is best known for his pictures of actors in famous roles and for his witty genre scenes. His most famous work - made in his favourite technique of pastel and watercolour - is a series of five pictures entitled NELRI (Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1740); the name is derived from the first letters of the Latin inscriptions which accompany the five views of the activities of a group of men during the night of a reunion. Troost has much in common with his contemporary Hogarth, but unlike Hogarth, Troost is a humorist without an ulterior motive; he never attempted to teach or preach.

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