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Self-Portrait
Judith Leyster · Baroque & Dutch Golden Age
- Artist
- Judith Leyster (1609–1660)
- Date
- c. 1630
- Dimensions
- 74.6 x 65.1 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., United States
In this self-portrait, painted around 1630, Judith Leyster turns from her easel to look at us with an easy, open smile, brush in hand. It is one of the most relaxed and confident self-portraits of the Dutch Golden Age.
A closer look
Leyster presents herself as a professional painter at work, but dressed in fine clothes and a lace collar that would hardly be practical in a studio, a way of asserting her status. On the easel is a laughing fiddler, the type of merry genre scene that made her reputation. X-rays show that she first painted a woman’s face on the canvas and replaced it with the musician, perhaps to show off her speciality.
More by Judith Leyster
Famous works elsewhere
- The Proposition 1631
- The Jolly Toper 1629
- Merry Trio 1631
- A boy and a girl with a cat and an eel 1635
- A Youth with a Jug 1632