Judith Jans Leyster (also Leijster; July 28, 1609 – February 10, 1660) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who specialized in genre works, portraits, and still lifes.
Her work was admired by her contemporaries, but it was largely forgotten after her death. The term “independent” refers to a person who does not work for the government. In 1893, she was rediscovered and scholars began to properly attribute her works.
She 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 it was the common name for the North Star among Dutch mariners at the time. Her father’s brewery in Haarlem was called the Leistar. She only occasionally signed her works with her full name.
She specialized in portrait-like genre scenes, usually with one to three figures exuding good cheer and set against a plain background. Many are children, while others are drunk men. Leyster’s domestic genre scenes were particularly inventive. These are quiet scenes of women at home, often with candlelight or lamplight, and are primarily from the perspective of a woman. The Proposition (Mauritshuis, The Hague) is an unusual variation on these scenes, said by some to depict a girl receiving unwanted advances rather than a willing prostitute, as is the more common scene with such a title. However, this interpretation is not universally accepted.
How many children did Judith Leyster have?
Despite Leyster’s talent and ambition, there are currently just a small number of her works. She wed painter Jan Miense Molenaer in 1636. (c. 1610-1668). Only two of their five children survived to adulthood.
