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Judith Leyster Exhibition
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The Serenade by Judith Leyster
Since this year marks the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson reaching the coast of what is now known as New York, there have been numerous proclamations and commemorations, exhibitions and celebrations marking the event on both sides of the Atlantic. But the Dutch were responsible for something other than sending Henry Hudson out to sea in 1609. 1609 was also the year Dutch artist Judith Leyster was born.
One of only two female members of the painters’ guild in Haarlem Judith Leyster was an independent Dutch artist whose work was similar in nature to that of other, more popular Dutch painters such as Jan Steen, Hendrick Terbrugghen, Gerrit van Honthorst and noted Haarlem artist, Frans Hals.
An intimate exhibition of 10 of Leyster’s works have been gathered by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC in an exhibition celebrating the artist’s 400th birthday. Most of her paintings, such as The Serenade and The Last Drop, depict cavorting and merry-making in taverns and with music, which were very popular with the growing Dutch middle class.
When Leyster died in 1660 her work, while popular during her lifetime, was forgotten until 1893, when the Louvre acquired one of her paintings. Often dismissed as an imitator of Frans Hals, this exhibition will serve as a testament to Leyster’s originality and hopefully put these notions to rest.
Judith Leyster, 1609-1660 is at the Washington DC Gallery of Art through November 29.
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