Arcadópolis
Young Boy in Profile
Judith Leyster, c. 1630
What you see
The circle holds just the head and shoulders of a boy, seen in profile and facing right. His head fills almost the whole space: curly hair covers the back of his neck and leaves his ear visible. He wears a dark jacket trimmed with gold braid. Behind him, the pale background darkens toward the edges, and a diagonal shadow crosses the right side.
Light comes from the right and strikes his face, nose and chin. The brushstrokes are plain to see: short strokes for the curls, thick touches on the skin and the collar. Seek out the gleam on the tip of his nose and the loose strands of hair falling at the nape.
About Judith Leyster
Judith Leyster was a Haarlem painter who in 1633 became a master in the city's Guild of St Luke, where she was then the only woman, which allowed her to run her own studio and take pupils. She painted musicians, drinkers and merry scenes with loose, lively brushwork, and signed with a monogram and a star, a pun on her surname, which refers to the “lodestar”. After her death she was forgotten and her pictures were credited to others, above all Frans Hals, until in 1893 the scholar Cornelis Hofstede de Groot recognized her monogram on seven paintings.
More by Judith Leyster
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