Past Exhibition

Exhibition: Judith Leyster, 1609-1660

Shown from about the waist up, a woman with smooth, pale skin sits in a chair facing our right in front of a canvas on an easel in this vertical portrait. She leans onto her right elbow, which rests on the seat back. She turns her face to look at us, lips slightly parted. Her dress has a black bodice and a deep rose-pink skirt and sleeves. She wears a translucent white cap over her hair, which has been tightly pulled back. A stiff, white, plate-like ruff encircles her neck and reaches to her shoulders. She holds a paintbrush in her right hand and clutches about twenty brushes, a wooden paint palette, and a rag in her left hand, at the bottom right of the canvas. The painting behind her shows a man wearing robin's egg-blue and playing a violin.
Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, c. 1630, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, 1949.6.1

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    West Building, Main Floor, Dutch Cabinet Galleries
Shown from about the waist up, a woman with smooth, pale skin sits in a chair facing our right in front of a canvas on an easel in this vertical portrait. She leans onto her right elbow, which rests on the seat back. She turns her face to look at us, lips slightly parted. Her dress has a black bodice and a deep rose-pink skirt and sleeves. She wears a translucent white cap over her hair, which has been tightly pulled back. A stiff, white, plate-like ruff encircles her neck and reaches to her shoulders. She holds a paintbrush in her right hand and clutches about twenty brushes, a wooden paint palette, and a rag in her left hand, at the bottom right of the canvas. The painting behind her shows a man wearing robin's egg-blue and playing a violin.
Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, c. 1630, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, 1949.6.1

Overview: 10 paintings by Dutch artist Judith Leyster were shown with 15 works of art by her contemporaries in this exhibition commemorating the 400th anniversary of Leyster's birth. Included were paintings by her presumed teacher Frans Hals and her husband, Jan Miense Molenaer. Musical instruments on loan from the Library of Congress, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and a private collection also were on view. The European version of the exhibition at the Frans Hals Museum included additional works from European collections.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and Frima Fox Hofrichter presented a lecture, Judith Leyster: A "Leading Star" in Dutch Art, on October 25. A concert of baroque music from the Netherlands was presented on October 21.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern baroque painting, National Gallery of Art, was curator, in consultation with Frima Fox Hofrichter, professor, history of art and design, Pratt Institute, New York.

Sponsor: The exhibition was made possible by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Saunders III. The brochure was supported by Mrs. Henry H. Weldon, with additional support from Mrs. George M. Kaufman.

Attendance: 120,550

Catalog: Judith Leyster, 1609–1660 by Frima Fox Hofrichter. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 2009.

Other Venues:

  • Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem, Netherlands, 12/12/2009–05/09/2010

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