Cornelis Pronk

1691–1759, Amsterdam

Cornelis Pronk is known mostly as the author of an extensive oeuvre of topographical drawings. He studied under Jan van Houten and Arnold Boonen in Amsterdam and specialised in this genre in the late 1720s. To this end he undertook numerous journeys through the Netherlands on his own or in the company of fellow artists, recording his impressions in sketchbooks. The high documentary value of his drawings derives from their photographic precision. Pronk is deemed to be the founder of a school of topographical drawing in the Netherlands. Abraham de Haen, Paulus van Liender and Jan de Beijer rank among his most important students.