Career
One of his earliest drawings dated 1708, is of Prince Eugene of Savoy and the booksellar and spy Louis Renard visiting a chic Amsterdam brothel. Then he had an early success with a lively group portrait depicting the Amsterdam Inspectors of the Collegium Medicum (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1724). Troost painted portraits, including one of Herman Boerhaave, the famous doctor from Leiden.
Troost is known for his paintings of actors in famous roles as well as his witty and elegant Rococo genre scenes.
Troost was possibly influenced by William Hogarth, and certainly by French artists such as Watteau, Boucher and Lancret. He lived on the Keizersgracht, and collected Troost"s paintings.
lieutenant is assumed the book on the table is by Karel van Mander and on the chimney breast Argus and Mercury can be seen. Troost himself lived nearby on the banks of the river Amstel and at Prinsengracht.
A famous work, in his favorite medium of pastel and watercolor, is a five picture series entitled NELRI (Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1740).
The name is derived from the first letters of the Latin inscriptions which accompany five views of the activities of a group of men during a night of reunion. He had five daughters and they were all trained in the arts, but only Sara had works engraved by other artists. Among the public collections holding works by Cornelis Troost are:
Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle, The Netherlands
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, The Netherlands.