Gerard Soest

He is most famous for his portraits of William Shakespeare and Samuel Butler, but painted many members of the English gentry.

[1] He seems to have been in England by the late 1640s, and his paintings at this time show the influence of William Dobson.

He had a moderately successful career, but was never fashionable and never managed to get commissions from courtiers and royalty.

[2] Soest's portrait of Shakespeare was owned by Thomas Wright of Covent Garden in 1725 when it was engraved by John Simon.

George Vertue states that it was based on a man who resembled Shakespeare, while the pose and costume suggest the influence of the Chandos portrait.