Willem Drost (baptized 19 April 1633 – buried 25 February 1659) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker of history paintings and portraits.

Around 1650, according to the early art historian Houbraken, he became a student of Rembrandt, eventually developing a close working relationship, painting history scenes, biblical compositions, symbolic studies of a solitary figure, as well as portraits.

[3] Willem Drost's recognized lifetime output of artwork is very small, while Rembrandt is credited with more than 2,000 paintings and etchings, the majority of which are not signed.

For years, the painting's subject matter and purpose was questioned by many scholars, led by the renowned expert Julius S. Held in 1944.

Starting in 1984, in a movement led by Dr. Josua Bruyn of the Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, some began to believe this great painting may also be that of Willem Drost as may be several others.