(b Amsterdam, 8 Oct. 1696; d Amsterdam, 7 Mar. 1750). Dutch painter, printmaker, and draughtsman, active mainly in Amsterdam, the outstanding Dutch artist of the 18th century. He made his name with a lively group portrait of the Amsterdam Inspectors of the Collegium Medicum (1724, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) and continued to enjoy success as a formal portraitist and painter of conversation pieces. However, he painted numerous other types of picture, including theatrical subjects (he had close connections with the theatre and acted professionally in his youth). His most famous work—made in his favourite technique of pastel and watercolour—is a series of five pictures entitled NELRI (1740, Mauritshuis, The Hague); the name is derived from the first letters of the Latin inscriptions that accompany the five views of the activities of a group of men during the night of a reunion.