Judith Leyster: A Dutch Master and Her World [Hardcover]

Pieter Biesboer (Editor), Mr. James A. Welu (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 1993

Judith Leyster (1609-1660), the most famous woman painter of the Dutch golden age, was remarkable for her time. She pursued a profession dominated by men, was the only female member of the painter's guild known to have had a workshop, and is the sole woman artist whose known work attests to an active role in the open market, then a relatively new form of art patronage that was to transform the Dutch art world. This book gives new insights into Leyster's world - her life, her art, and the society in which she lived. Written by a team of scholars that includes art historians, economic historians, and painting conservators, the book discusses Leyster's life, the close link between art and the economy in Holland at this time, the social factors affecting Leyster and other working women in the 17th century, the lives of the major painters who were her contemporaries, the nature of Leyster's painting technique and style, and the unique qualities of her art. The second half of the book reproduces Leyster's paintings - including her captivating scenes of everyday life - and analyses each in detail. Carefully selected paintings by other artists of the period, including Frans and Dirck Hals and Leyster's husband, Jan Miense Molenaer, are also presented in order to place Leyster's work in the context of Haarlem genre painting at its height. This beautiful book is a catalogue for the first major exhibition of the work of Judith Leyster in the United States. The exhibition will open at the Frans Halsmuseum in May 1993 and the Worcester Art Museum in September 1993.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A professional woman artist struggling in a male-dominated trade, Dutch genre painter Judith Leyster (1609-1660) joined the artists' guild, ran her own workshop and competed with Franz Hals (c.1581-1666) and with her husband-to-be, painter Jan Molenaer (c.1610-1668). Her pictures of merrymakers, musicians and fun-loving children, reproduced here in 148 black-and-white and 45 color plates, recall Hals's dashing brushwork and insouciant spirit. Leyster also painted self-confident portraits, still lifes and allegories but her distinctive personal style crystallized in small, intimate candle-lit scenes. In this exhaustive catalogue of an exhibit at the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts, Welu, the museum's director, and Biesboer, curator of the Frans Hals museum in the Netherlands, lead a team of scholars in discussing not only Leyster's work and its iconography but also her career in the context of the Dutch art market.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Leyster (1609-60), the leading painter of 17th-century Holland, is said to have followed the technique and subjects of Frans Hals. Instead, this exhibition catalog--a model of history and connoisseurship--establishes that she is closer to Dirck Hals and Jan Miense Molenaer. An international team of 12 art, economic, and social historians has pared down Leyster's relatively small output and cautiously reflected upon all issues raised about her life and career. Their outstanding effort has produced a hefty volume, with about 300 illustrations, 50 of them in color. Highly recommended for serious collections.
- Mary Hamel- Schwulst, Towson State Univ., Md.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; First Edition edition (October 9, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300055641
• ISBN-13: 978-0300055641
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,149,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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