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Judith Leyster
Birth Year : 1609
Death Year : 1660
Country : Netherlands

Judith Leyster, one of the very few women painters

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Merry Company, 1630
Judith Leyster
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in a century predominantly interested in men, was born in Haarlem. Before 1628, she lived near Utrecht, where she came under the influence of Terbrugghen, a painter of religious pictures and one of the most important Dutch followers of Caravaggio. Undoubtedly her dramatic lighting was learned at this time. In 1628, Leyster began to be known as a painter, and in 1633 she became a member of the Haarlem Guild. At some time during this period she became a pupil of Frans Hals, and it is also probable that she met her husband Jan Miense Molenaer in Hals' studio, for Molenaer, like his better-known wife, painted in the manner of Hals.

Judith Leyster's style closely resembled that of Hals, and her choice of subjects was so similar to his that many of her works, although signed with her maiden name (a most unexpected practice for the seventeenth century), were at first attributed to Hals. She painted genre portraits of entertainers and tavern habitués in a quite masculine style reminiscent of Hals' early work-bright in color, brightly lit, with deep shadows, and well delineated forms. A teacher of other artists, Judith Leyster was highly esteemed by her contemporaries and enjoyed a successful career.



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"To do good work one must eat well, be well housed, have one's fling from time to time, smoke one's pipe, and drink one's coffee in peace."