(bapt. Amsterdam, 19 Apr. 1633; bur. Venice, 25 Feb. 1659). Dutch painter, active in Italy for part of his very brief career. He was one of the most gifted of Rembrandt's pupils, but also one of the most enigmatic. Several paintings now given to him were formerly attributed to his master, and Drost has even been proposed as the author of the celebrated Polish Rider (Frick Coll., New York), which figures in many books as one of Rembrandt's most poetic creations. Among Drost's undisputed works the masterpiece is the sensuous Bathsheba (1654, Louvre, Paris), painted in the same year as Rembrandt's famous depiction of the subject (likewise in the Louvre) and evidently inspired by it.