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Judith Leyster - Lost and Found

© Tricia Dake

One thing I find remarkable about women artists throughout history is how much they needed to overcome in order just to paint and have their work recognized. That is why when I learned that the work of Dutch artist Judith Leyster (1609-1660) was mistaken for the work of Frans Hals (1580-1666) for two centuries, I immediately sought out examples of her paintings to learn why.

It is true - she was contemporary with Hals and most likely one of his students. Some of her subjects are even similar. Her style, however, is quite different. While Hals painted with a very free brushstroke now considered to be pre-impressionistic, Leyster’s works are smoother and more carefully detailed. Her technical skill is clearly apparent in a controlled, refined style. Why then was her art confused with his?

Judith Leyster was a member of a painter’s guild – that not in itself a small feat for a woman in her day. She went on to acquire three pupils of her own – all male. This in particular was highly unusual indicating that she must have been very well respected and her art publicly recognized. The reason her name seems to have been forgotten for so many years lies simply in the plight of women throughout the centuries. At the age of 27, she married the artist Jan Miense Molenaer. She continued to paint signing her paintings with JL and a star to symbolize her maiden name. It was not until she bore children that the demands of marriage and motherhood replaced her opportunity for painting. Since most of Leyster’s works were completed in a six-year period and Hals’ works range over a time span of more than fifty years, I suppose one can forgive the confusion.

What I like most about Judith Leyster’s paintings are the moral qualities she infused into them and her sense of humor. In "The Proposition," a painting lit by a solitary candle to highlight a woman’s white clothing and leave a man in partial shadow, Leyster makes it clear that the man’s advances are rejected by the woman. The man appears very insistent in offering the woman money while she ignores him and focuses instead on her sewing. In contrast to the fashion of the day, this painting could hardly serve as a brothel advertisement! In "Laughing Youth with a Wine Glass," Leyster’s portrayal of a young man clearly inebriated and leering at the viewer does in no way encourage the consumption of alcohol. It is these stylistic and moral differences that set her apart from her male counterparts. Surely no one can miss the humor of a woman ignoring the advances of a most persistent man. Leyster’s sense of humor is ever present in her works. Indeed even her signature reflects a pun on the name Leyster, meaning Lodestar. In her self-portrait, she is dressed formally, but she appears confident, relaxed and her smile brings forth one of our own.

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