Judith Leyster

Lore & Background

Leyster was born in July 1609 in Haarlem to a local cloth maker who later became a brewer. She was the eighth child of Jan Willemsz Leyster. While the details of her training are uncertain, she was mentioned by contemporary Haarlem poet Samuel Ampzing in his book *Beschrijvinge ende lof der stadt Haerlem* (1628). Some scholars speculate that Leyster pursued a career in painting to help support her family after her father's bankruptcy. She may have learned painting from Frans Pietersz de Grebber, who was running a respected workshop in Haarlem in the 1620s. During this time her family moved to the province of Utrecht, and she may have come into contact with some of the Utrecht Caravaggisti. Leyster's first known signed works, *Serenade* and *Jolly Toper*, are dated 1629, when the artist was twenty years old. By 1633, she was admitted as a member of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. Some sources say she was the first woman registered by the Guild; others say it was Sara van Baalbergen in 1631. It has been suggested that Leyster's *Self-Portrait*, c. 1633 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), may have been her presentation piece to the Guild. This work marks a shift from the rigidity of earlier women's self-portraits toward a more relaxed, dynamic pose. Within two years of entering the Guild, Leyster had taken on three male apprentices. Records show that Leyster sued Frans Hals for accepting a student who left her workshop for his without first obtaining the Guild's permission. The student's mother paid Leyster four guilders in punitive damages, only half of what Leyster asked for, and Hals settled his part of the lawsuit by paying a three-guilder fine rather than returning the apprentice. Leyster herself was fined for not having registered the apprentice with the Guild. Following her lawsuit with Frans Hals, Leyster's paintings received greater recognition. In 1636, Leyster married the prolific artist Jan Miense Molenaer. They both worked on similar subjects like portraits and history paintings. In hopes of better economic prospects, the couple moved to Amsterdam where Molenaer already had clients. They remained there for eleven years before returning to Heemstede in the Haarlem area. There they shared a studio in a small house located in the present-day Groenendaal Park. Leyster and Molenaer had five children, only two of whom survived to adulthood. Most of Leyster's dated works were produced before her marriage and are dated between 1629 and 1635. There are few known pieces by her painted after 1635: two illustrations in a book about tulips from 1643, a portrait from 1652, and a still life from 1654 that was discovered in a private collection in the 21st century. Leyster may have worked collaboratively with her husband as well. She died in 1660, aged 50. She was buried at a farm just outside of Haarlem. None of her artwork was publicly displayed or attributed to her for close to 200 years. The fact that the inventory of her estate attributed many of the paintings to "the wife of Molenaer", not to Judith Leyster, may have contributed to the misattribution of her work to her husband.

Reader's Guide

Judith Leyster's significance lies in her rediscovery in 1893, which corrected a centuries-long misattribution of her works to Frans Hals and her husband Jan Miense Molenaer. Her career demonstrates the challenges faced by women artists in the Dutch Golden Age: despite being admitted to the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke and taking on male apprentices, her legacy was erased after death. Her innovative domestic genre scenes, such as *The Proposition* (Mauritshuis, The Hague), offer a woman's perspective on intimate moments, resisting common stereotypes. In *The Proposition*, the light does much of the storytelling. Leyster paints a man looming behind the woman, offering her coins, while defined shadows create shapes and contrast between the light red glow of the foot warmer. Leyster creates light that, although it is not the most realistic, is placed there intentionally to showcase the deep focus that will not break as the man tries to distract her from her sewing. Leyster signed her works with a monogram of her initials JL with a star attached. This was a play on words: "Leister" meant "Lead star" in Dutch, and for Dutch mariners of the time it was the common name for the North Star. The *Leistar* was the name of her father's brewery in Haarlem, which he bought in 1618. Leyster used Ley-Ster as her pseudonym. In 1648, Theodore Schrevel, a Dutch commenter, observed: "There also have been many experienced women in the field of painting who are still renowned in our time, and who could compete with men. Among them, one excels exceptionally, Judith Leyster, called 'the true Leading star in art.'" The confusion – or perhaps deceit – may date to Leyster's lifetime. Sir Luke Schaud acquired a Leyster, *The Jolly Companions*, as a Hals in the 1600s. The work ended up with a dealer, Wertheimer of Bond Street, London, who described it as one of the finest Hals paintings. Sir John Millars agreed with the Wertheimer about the authenticity and value of the painting. Wertheimer sold the painting to an English firm for £4,500. This firm, in turn, sold the painting as a Hals to Thomas Lawrie in Paris. In 1893 the Louvre found Leyster's monogram under the fabricated signature of Hals. When the original signature was discovered, Thomas Lawrie sued the English firm, who in turn attempted to rescind their own purchase and get their money back from the art dealer, Wertheimer. The case was settled in court on May 31, 1893, with the plaintiffs (the unnamed English firm) agreeing to keep the painting for £3,500 + £500 costs.

Did You Know?

• Leyster signed her works with a monogram of her initials JL with a star attached, a play on words: 'Leister' meant 'Lead star' in Dutch, the common name for the North Star.
• In 1893, the Louvre found Leyster's monogram under a fabricated signature of Frans Hals on a painting, leading to her rediscovery.
• Leyster sued Frans Hals for accepting a student who left her workshop without Guild permission; the student's mother paid four guilders in punitive damages, and Hals paid a three-guilder fine.
• The inventory of Leyster's estate attributed many of her paintings to 'the wife of Molenaer,' not to Judith Leyster, contributing to misattribution.
• In 1648, Dutch commenter Theodore Schrevel called Leyster 'the true Leading star in art.'