"Willem Drost (1633-59) was one of Rembrandt's most gifted pupils, and he is also considered one of the most mysterious. This book, the first ever devoted to this exceptional artist, unravels many of the mysteries of Drost's life and career. Curator and art historian Jonathan Bikker offers not only new archival evidence of the artist's date and place of death but also a new assessment of Drost's place in the Rembrandt workshop and in the Venetian art world of the mid-seventeenth century." "The book features a meticulously researched and fully illustrated catalogue raisonne with 38 paintings now attributed to Drost (several formerly attributed to Rembrandt) and 35 other paintings today known only from old sale catalogues and inventories of from old reproductions. The author also discusses 32 paintings he rejects as Drost's work. Each entry in the catalogue raisonne section discusses in detail the attribution, iconography, provenance, and exhibition history of the painting as well as a list of reproductions of the work." "The book draws on extensive research to revise what has been known about Drost's life, his stylistically diverse oeuvre, and his influences. The artist's training and his relationship to Rembrandt and other artists in the Rembrandt circle are examined, as is his Venetian period and the relation of his style to that of German-born painter Johann Carl Loth. Drost emerges as one of Rembrandt's most talented imitators and, despite his very short career, an artist with a variety of faces."--BOOK JACKET.