Cornelis Raaphorstartist • painter • watercolourist • draughtsmanNieuwkoop 1875-1954 Wassenaar

Cornelis Raaphorst grew up in poor circumstances in a farming family with seven children in Wassenaar, where he would live all his life. At a young age he was engaged in drawing and later also in painting. He earns a living for his large family – wife and nine children – as a house and decorative painter; in his spare time he practices as an amateur painter. Only after the age of fifty would he become so successful with it that he could make it his profession. Initially Raaphorst paints and draws villages, landscapes with animals and flower still lifes. After Raaphorst presented a work with cats to Kunsthandel Scheen in The Hague, he was promptly advised to specialize in this. After that, playing kittens become his main motif. He paints them in all their doings, surrounded by colorful draperies and precious utensils. The source of inspiration must have been the work of Henriëtte Ronner-Knip, although he applied his own style of painting. Over time, Raaphorst added more and more luxury items to his paintings, his paintings became more coloorful and the quality of his cat paintings increased over time. His work was sought after beyond the national borders and is still loved today.