Jo(h)annes van Dreght (1737 - 1807) was an Amsterdam painter of applied arts: sets, mantelpieces, carriages, yachts, sledges and fans.
Dreght became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1758. He married in 1761 and became a member of the Amsterdam city drawing academy in 1766. Received the golden prize at the drawing academy. He lived in the Kerkstraat not far from the Amstel. Dreght painted chimney pieces in the town hall (1772), the Dutch theater (1774), in the buildings Herengracht 518 and 520 and in the Corvershof (1778). His work testifies to a new vision of classical antiquity, neoclassicism.
Politically, his preference was for the patriots, who were quite enamored with the Roman Republic. When The Barber of Seville, a play by Beaumarchais, was performed in the city theater in 1781 and 1792, Van Dreght painted the decor.
The wallpaper painter Jurriaen Andriessen was one of his students; Willem Bilderdijk owed his skills as a draftsman and etcher to the teaching of Joannes van Dreght, who was his teacher for 10 years.
Sources
D. Carasso, 'Idem ardor agit. The painter Joannes van Dreght and his student Willem Bilderdijk', in: E.K. Grootes and J. den Haan [eds.], History, religion, literature. Essay presented to Dr. S.B.J. Zilverberg on the occasion of his farewell from the University of Amsterdam, Roden 1989, p. 208-220.
The Van Eeghen collection. Amsterdam drawings 1600-1950. (1989)
