7 Amazing Facts About Judith Leyster

Dutch Golden Age painter Judith Leyster (1609–1660) was quickly recognized as a rare talent in her native Haarlem. By just age 24 she had been admitted to the city’s prestigious painters guild. But due to years of misattribution, her name remained largely unknown until the late 19th century.

Read on to learn more about the life and career of this extraordinary artist...

1. A star is born

Judith Leyster was born in Haarlem, in the Netherlands. Fun fact: She was the eighth child of a brewer, and the “Leyster” family name was taken from her father’s brewery, called the “Ley-ster,” or lode star.

2. Shooting to the top

Leyster joined the Haarlem painters guild in 1633, one of only two female painters to do so in the entire 17th century. Leyster ran her own studio, and had her own apprentices and students.

Studio life was hardly drama free: Leyster once filed a complaint against Frans Hals, the most important artist in Haarlem at the time, for poaching one of her assistants. Hals was made to pay a fine – but kept the assistant.

3. Leyster’s bawdy band

Leyster primarily produced genre paintings and portraits. Many of her compositions feature one or a few figures happily engaged in domestic activity or merrymaking – playing music or, more often than not, drinking!

4. Woman in the mirror

The carefully considered informality of this self-portrait reflects the influence of Frans Hals, who was famous for his free, open brushstrokes. Leyster greatly admired Hals – assistant-stealing notwithstanding – and incorporated elements of his style into her work. But did she ever study with him? No one knows for sure.

A closer look: X-rays have revealed that the man in the picture-within-the-picture (who appears in another of Leyster’s works, Merry Company) was actually painted over a figure of a woman – perhaps a second self-portrait of Leyster herself?

5. Becoming Mrs. Molenaer

Leyster’s solo artistic career was sadly short-lived. In 1636, she wed fellow Haarlem artist Jan Miense Molenaer, and painting gave way to children and domestic responsibilities. Leyster stopped painting in her own name, but she likely contributed to the works produced in her husband’s studio.

6. The Name Game

Following her death in 1660, Leyster essentially disappeared from the art historical record. Her works were either left unattributed, or credited to Molenaer or Hals – despite Leyster’s distinctive signature, which featured her initials and a star, a clever play on her last name.