Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot

Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot or Droogsloot (1586 – May 14, 1666), was a Dutch Golden Age painter.

Droochsloot was born in Utrecht probably by 1586, he may spend some years in The Hague. The documentation began in 1616 when he enrolled as a teacher in the Guild of St. Luke of Utrecht, where he was elected dean in 1623, 1641 and 1642.1 In 1618 he married Agnietgen of Barbary Velt with whom he had at least one son, Cornelius Droochsloot, also a painter. A respected member of his community, in 1638 he was elected regent of the hospital Sint Jobs, deacon of the Church reformed in 1642 and officer of the schutterij or urban militia in 1650 and 1651. In addition, from 1665 to 1666 he was a painter of the University of Utrecht.

According to Houbraken his village scenes (Boerekermisstuk) were as popular as flower pieces by Bartholomeus Assteyn. Houbraken thought he was born in Gorinchem or Dordrecht, and claimed he worked for a long time in Dordrecht. He felt his work was always according to a set pattern, where cake sellers were portrayed in front of village houses with figures in a festive setting called a "farmer's circus". It is unclear why Houbraken would have thought he was from Dordrecht, especially since Houbraken's data on painters from Dordrecht was generally quite accurate. Droochsloot and his son were highly respected citizens of Utrecht with a large workshop.

Prolific painter, the first known works, such as the Good Samaritan of the Centraal Museum of Utrecht, signed and dated in 1617, in which knowledge of the work of Jan van Scorel of the same subject is evident, or The seven works of mercy of the same Museum, dated in 1618, are great historicized compositions of religious subject, genre that will never abandon (parables of the useless servant and the guest to the weddings, 1635, Centraal Museum, new version of the Seven laws of mercy, 1644, The Hague, Museum Bredius), but what is most repeated in its production are the urban landscapes or located in small villages, with a wide avenue arranged diagonally and directed towards the depth, serving as a framework for the development of festive and market scenes or, more Occasionally, with current motives and battles. In this order the influences of the Flemish masters, both of Pieter Brueghel the Elder and of Pieter Brueghel the Younger, and of his compatriot David Vinckboons, have been noted, although the completion of the works of Droochsloot will never reach his mastery.

According to the RKD his monogram was "JCODS" and he became a member of the Utrecht Guild of Saint Luke in 1616. He later became deacon of the guild in 1623 and regent of the St. Jobs Gasthuis in 1638, deacon of the Dutch Reformed church, and in 1665 officer of the Utrecht schutterij.[3] He was the father of the painter Cornelis Droochsloot (1630–1673) whose paintings are hard to distinguish from his own, and the teacher of Jacob Duck.

Works:
The Seven Works of Mercy on the Neude in Utrecht

City view including the Keyzerrijk house, - the later Waaggebouw, the city crane and the Geese market in Utrecht

A self-portrait, described in the "Catalog of the art of collection of Van der Marck, Aegidz., In Leyden, Amsterdam, 1773" as follows: This painter has pictured himself in his painting room with his hat in his hand, In an attitude like he greets someone. He is sitting on a stool for his donkey, with a big piece standing up, having in his left hand the painting stick, a wood pence and a pallet with pampered pampering; Behind him is his pupil busy to rub; Furthermore, the room was equipped with all kinds of painting tools and further updating.

A a 107.5 by 179 cm oil on canvas, The Princes of Orange leaving the Buitenhof and passing the western side of the Hofvijver in The Hague, was sold for GBP 242,500 in 2013 at Sotheby's.
https://hisour.com/artist/joost-cornelisz-droochsloot/