Portrait of Louis Bouwmeester

Person depicted Louis Bouwmeester (1842-1925)
Role Shylock in Koopman van Venetie (Shakespeare)
Artist Tassos Loukides (1884-1972)
Medium Olieverf op doek
Year 1913

Louis Bouwmeester is regarded as one of the greatest Dutch actors of all time. As an enfant de la troupe, Louis Bouwmeester learned the craft of acting in the travelling company of his father and mother. He later played the great dramatic and comic roles with much passion, but he earned his international fame with his Shakespeare performances. Besides performances in London and Vienna, he performed in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1921, a highlight of his rich career. At his funeral procession from the theatre, thousands of onlookers stood on the Leidseplein to pay him their last respects. The portrait by Toon Dupuis shows a serene Bouwmeester, while the large portrait by Tassos Loukides shows him in his greatest role, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Together with his sister Theo, Bouwmeester long lent his name to the most important theatre prizes, and he is immortalized on one of the stage boxes in the Grote Zaal.