Judith Leyster

July 28, 1609 – February 10, 1660

Active in: The Netherlands

Biography

A professional painter, Judith Leyster was active during the Dutch Golden Age. She was born to a middle-class family in Haarlem in 1609. Her training is not well-documented, but it is widely accepted that she had some affiliation with the workshop of Frans Hals in the mid- to late-1620s.

In 1633, Leyster became the first woman to join the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke. Her works are often signed with her monogram, with a star as a reference to her family name, “Leyster,” which translates to “leading star.” In 1636 she married fellow painter Jan Miense Molenaer. Leyster’s artistic output seems to have lessened following her marriage and the birth of her children, and the content of her work seems to have changed as well. Early in her career, she specialized in genre scenes, but her later works are primarily flower pieces.

Despite the impact of her family life on her professional career, Leyster was a respected and renowned painter in Haarlem during her own lifetime. Following her death, her artistic contribution was vastly overshadowed by that of Frans Hals until her rediscovery in the 1890s. In 1893, the Louvre found Leyster’s monogram under the forged signature of Frans Hals on a painting now known as Carousing Couple.

Selected Works

A woman wearing a black dress with a large, disc-shaped white ruff and a close-fitting white cap that covers nearly all of her hair looks directly at the viewer. She has medium-light skin, very rosy pink cheeks and nose, and in one hand she holds a small book with a dark cover.

Judith Leyster, Portrait of a Woman, 1635. Oil on panel, 54 x 41 cm. Frans Hals Museum

Two children, both with light skin and very pink cheeks, dressed in dark clothing, stand close together. The boy on the left wears a very large hat folded up on one side along with a white scarf tied around his neck, and he looks up and away to his right. In one hand he holds an eel, while in the other arm he is holding a small cat to his torso. Net to him, a smaller girl wears a dark dress with a large white ruffle collar and a close-fitting white cap that covers all of her hair. She is holding up one hand with the index finger raised as she looks at someone away outside the scene, and with the other hand she is holding the end of the cat's tail.

Judith Leyster, A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and an Eel, ca. 1635. Oil on oak panel, 59.4 x 48.8 cm. National Gallery, London

A young man or child with light skin, blonde hair, a feathered cap, and a blue coat is seated at a table and smiling while he plays a violin. On teh table before him is a book that appears to contain sheet music, an empty glass, and a human skull.

Judith Leyster, A Boy Musician, n.d. Oil on oak panel, 27.6 x 32 cm. Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, K1343

A young boy with very light skin in a brown coat with a large white ruffled collar and red hat is seated in a chair playing a dark-colored flute. Behind him on teh wall hangs a violin and another musical instrument that resembles a white recorder.

Judith Leyster, Boy Playing the Flute, ca. 1635. Oil on canvas, 73 x 62 cm. Nationalmuseum Sweden

A woman with light skin and dark hair is seated before an easel, turned to look out at the viewer while leaning back on her chair with one elbow and the hand with her paint palette resting in her lap. She has a dark dress with a large, disc-shaped collar with lace trim around the edge, and she is holding a paintbrush loosely in her hand. On the easel before her, an incomplete painting of a young man dressed in blue with a violin is visible.

Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, c. 1630. Oil on canvas, 74.6 x 65.1 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington

A man with medium-light skin, red cheeks and nose, and short hair is seated at a small table, looking over his shoulder at the viewer.. He is wearing a gray coat and a black cap with a large read feather. In his hands, he holds up an empty jug.

Judith Leyster, The Jolly Drinker, 1629. Oil on canvas, 89 x 95 cm. Rijksmuseum

Two young men and a skeleton are in a shadowy room. One of the men wears a bright red coat and pants, and in one hand he holds a flask of drink while the other raised hand holds a long cigarette of some kind. He has undone his waistcoat and his undershirt, exposing part of his chest. His companion wears blue pants and a dark coat, and is leaning back drinking from a large flask. Behind him, the skeleton holds a second human skull and leans forward as if carefully watching what the two young men are doing.

Judith Leyster, The Last Drop, ca. 1629. Oil on canvas, 89.1 x 73.5 cm. Philadelphia Museum of Art

A man with medium-light skin and dark hair is playing a lute and looking upward and away from the viewer out of the corners of his eyes, his mouth slightly open. He is wearing a green shirt with black and white vertical stripes and white lacy collar and cuffs, and red pants with wide black vertical stripes. He appears to also wear a large hat with a dark feather or fur trim.

Judith Leyster, The Serenade, 1629. Oil on panel, 45.5 x 35 cm. Rijksmuseum

A man and a woman, both with light skin, dark hair, and rosy cheeks are seated together at a table, with the woman turned slightly to look at the man. The woman wears a white shawl and a white cap over her slicked-back hair, and she holds a wineglass in one hand and a silver-colored pot-belly wine jug in the other. The man wears a wide white collar and holds a violin up to his shoulder with one hand, the bow held to its strings with the other.

Judith Leyster, Carousing Couple, 1630. Oil on canvas, 57 x 68.5 cm. Louvre, RF 2131

Continue Exploring

View artist timeline
Selected works

Circle

Wife of
Jan Miense Molenaer

Possible student of
Frans Hals

Bibliography

Ampzing, Samuel. Beschryvinge ende lof der stad Haerlem in Holland. Haarlem, 1628.

Borzello, Frances. Seeing Ourselves: Women’s Self-Portraits. New York: Harry Abrams, 1998.

Bredius, Abraham. “Een conflict tusschen Frans Hals en Judith Leyster.” Oud Holland 39 (1917): 7–73.

Cook, Nicole Elizabeth. “By Candlelight: Uncovering Early Modern Women’s Creative Uses of Night.” In Women Artists and Patrons in the Netherlands, 1500–1700. Edited by Elizabeth Sutton, 55–84. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019.

Dubiez, F. J. “Het schildersechtpaar Judith Leyster en Jan Miense Molenaer in Amsterdam.” Ons Amsterdam 8 (1956): 142–44.

Fine, Elsa Honig. Women & Art: A History of Women Painters and Sculptors from the Renaissance to the 20th Century. London: Allanheld & Schram, 1978.

Gratama, G. D. “Het Portret van Judith Leyster door Frans Hals.” Oud Holland 47 (1930): 71–75.

Greer, Germaine. The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1979.

Harms, Juliane. “Judith Leyster: Ihr Leben und ihr Werk.” Oud Holland 49 (1972): 88–96, 112–26, 145–54, 221–42, 275–79.

Heller, Nancy G. Women Artists: An Illustrated History. New York and London: Abbeville, 2003.

Hofrichter, Frima Fox. “Games People Play: Judith Leyster’s A Game of Tric-trac.” Worcester Art Museum Journal 7 (1985): 19–27.

Hofrichter, Frima Fox. Judith Leyster: A Woman Painter in Holland’s Golden Age. Doornspijk: Davaco, 1989.

Hofrichter, Frima Fox. ‘Judith Lyester’s Self-portrait: Ut picture poesis,’ Essays in Northern European Art Presented to Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann on his 60th Birthday. Doornspijk, 1983.

Hofrichter, Frima Fox. “Leyster, Judith.” Grove Art Online, 2003. http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000050810.

Hofstede de Groot, C. “Judith Leyster.” Jahrbuch der preussischen Kunstsammlungen 14 (1893): 190–98, 232.

“Judith Leyster.” National Museum of Women in the Arts. nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/judith-leyster.

“Leyster, Judith.” Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011. http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/benezit/view/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-00109143.

Neurdenburg, Elisabeth. “Judith Leyster.” Oud Holland 46 (1929): 27–30.

Quinn, Bridget. Broad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History (In That Order). San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2017.

Parker, Rozsika, and Griselda Pollock. Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981.

Petersen, Karen, and J. J. Wilson. Women Artists: Recognition and Reappraisal from the Early Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. New York, 1976.

Schrevel, Theodore. Harlemum. Haarlem, 1647.

Thieme, Ulrich, and Felix Becker. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler: von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Leipzig: Seemann, 1907–50.

Tietze-Conrat, E. “Die Kunst der Frau.” Zeitschrift für Bildende Kunst (1911): 146–48.

Van Emden, Frieda. “Judith Leyster: A Female Frans Hals.” The Art World 3 (1918): 501–03.

Von Schneider, A. “Gerard Honthorst and Judith Leyster.” Oud Holland 40 (1922): 169–73.

Weidemann, Christianne, Petra Larass, and Melanie Klier. 50 Women Artists You Should Know. Munich: Prestel, 2016.

Welu, James A., and P. Biesboer. Judith Leyster: A Dutch Master and Her World. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.

Wheelock, Arthur K. “Judith Leyster.” National Gallery of Art, 2014. www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1485.html#biography.

Wisener -Hanks, Merry E. Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe. 4th ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Wijnman, H. F. “Het geboortejaar van Judith Leyster.” Oud Holland 49 (1932): 62–65.

Entry Notes

Contributions to timeline and bibliography provided by Indiana University A300 student