Willem Drost (baptized 19 April 1633 – buried 25 February 1659) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker of history paintings and portraits.
Biography
thumb|left|300px|The Vision of Daniel, 1650, [[Gemäldegalerie, Berlin]]
thumb|right|[[Bathsheba with King David's Letter, 1654, oil on canvas, Louvre.]]
He is a mysterious figure, closely associated with Rembrandt, with very few paintings clearly attributable to him.
He was presumably born in Amsterdam, in what was then known as the United Provinces of the Netherlands, but when and where is unknown. According to the early art historian Arnold Houbraken, he became a student of Rembrandt, possibly in the late 1640's or early 1650's eventually developing a close working relationship, painting history scenes, biblical compositions, symbolic studies of a solitary figure, as well as portraits. As a student, his 1654 painting titled Bathsheba was inspired by Rembrandt's painting done in the same year on the same subject and given the same title, though their treatments are rather different; both Drost's and Rembrandt's paintings are in the Louvre in Paris.
Houbraken described him as a painter of historical allegories and a pupil of Rembrandt. Houbraken saw a Johannes Predicatie (Sermon of John) by him that was well composed and painted. He influenced the painter Adolf Boy. He died in the latter city in 1659.