National Gallery of Art

Biography

Judith Leyster was born in Haarlem, and was baptized there on July 28, 1609. Her father, Jan Willemsz., was the owner of a brewery called the "Ley-ster" (lodestar), from which the family took its surname. Little is known of Leyster's early training, but she made a name for herself at a very young age: she is mentioned as an active artist in Samuel Ampzing's description of the town of Haarlem, which was published in 1628 when she would have been still only nineteen years old.

Not long thereafter, Leyster's family moved to Vreeland near Utrecht, and many have speculated that at this time she came under the influence of the Utrecht Caravaggisti. Nevertheless, the dramatic effects of indirect, artificial lighting that these painters typically employed are not entirely paralleled in any of Leyster's canvases. It seems more likely that the superficial similarities to the style of the Utrecht Caravaggisti came by way of Frans Hals' circle of painters in Haarlem. By September 1629, Leyster's parents had moved to Zaandam, near Amsterdam, although it is not clear how long she remained with them there before returning to Haarlem. She was certainly back in her native town by November 1631 when she was a witness at the baptism of one of the children of Frans Hals.

No records survive to prove that Leyster studied with Hals in his studio, but a number of her works shows her to have been one of his closest and most successful followers. Furthermore, other comparisions suggest that she was also influenced by the work of Hals' brother, Dirck Hals (1591-1656). Should Leyster have been part of either of their studios, it would seem that she would have been there prior to 1629, the year she starts to sign and date her paintings, and probably prior to 1628, since Ampzing (see person bibliography) implies that she is working as an independent artist at that time.

In the years following her return to Haarlem, Judith Leyster achieved a degree of professional success that was quite remarkable for a female artist of her time. By 1633 she was a member of the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke, the first woman admitted for which an oeuvre can be cited, and in 1635 she is recorded as having three students. One of these, Willem Wouters, subsequently defected to the studio of Hals, presumably without adequate warning, as Leyster went before the Guild of Saint Luke in October 1635 to make a (successful) demand for payment from Wouters' mother.

In 1636 she married Jan Miense Molenaer (c. 1609/1610-1669), a fellow artist and at times close follower of Hals, and the couple subsequently moved to Amsterdam, where they lived until 1648. She painted very little after her marriage. In October of 1648 the couple bought a house in Heemstede, near Haarlem, but continued to make regular visits to Amsterdam, where they had another house, and also to Haarlem. Leyster died in 1660 and was buried in Heemstede on February 10.

Stylistically, much of Leyster's work resembles that of Frans Hals. She favored the same types of subjects and compositions, notably energetic genre scenes depicting one or two figures, often children, engaging in some kind of merrymaking. In addition to these compositions, Leyster also painted still lifes. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the early works of Leyster and her husband, a problem that is aggravated by the fact that they often shared studio props and models, and may even have worked on each other's pictures. [This is an edited version of the artist's biography published, or to be published, in the NGA Systematic Catalogue]

Bibliography

1628

Ampzing, Samuel. Beschrijvinge ende Lof der Stad Haerlem. Haarlem, 1628: 370.

1648

Schrevelius, T. Harlemias: Of, de eerst stichting der stad Haarlem. Haarlem, 1648: 290.

1927

Harms, Juliane. "Judith Leyster: Ihr Leben und ihr Werk." Parts 1-5. Oud-Holland 44 (1927): 88-96, 112-126, 145-154, 221-244, 275-279.

1975

Hofrichter, Frim Fox. "Judith Leyster's Proposition: Between Virtue and Vice." The Feminist Art Journal 4, no. 3 (Fall 1975): 22-26.

1984

Philadelphia 1984, 233-235.

1989

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

1992

MacLaren, Neil. National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School 1600-1900. Revised and expanded by Christopher Brown. London, 1992: 226.

1993

Judith Leyster: A Dutch Master of the Golden Age. Exh. cat. Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem; Worcester Art Museum. New Haven, 1993.

1995

Wheelock, Jr., Arthur K. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 154-155.