Judith Leyster Haarlem 1609-1660 Heemstede

With Goudstikker, Amsterdam;
F.J.E. Horstmann, Wassenaar, from at least 1927 and still in 1929;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, F. Muller & Co.,19 November 1929, lot 29, for Dfl. 8,000;
With Brod Gallery, London 1966-1975;
Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 15 January 1985, lot 32.

The Hague, Mauritshuis, 1927;
Düsseldorf, Kunstmuseum, October 1965;
London, Brod Gallery, February 1966, cat. no. 24;
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum, and Worcester Art Museum, Judith Leyster: A Dutch Master and her World, 16 May - 22 August, and 19 September - 5 December 1993 respectively, cat. no. 15.

J. Harms, “Judith Leyster: Ihr Leben und ihr Werk”, in Oud Holland, vol. 44, 1927, pp. 276, 278 (addenda);
G. Poensgen, “Judith Leyster”, in U. Thieme & F. Becker, ed., Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler, vol. XXIII, Leipzig 1929, p. 177;
Advertisement in The Connoisseur, vol. 161, April 1966, p. 525, no. 2, reproduced;
Advertisement in The Connoisseur, vol. 170, February 1969, p. vi, reproduced;
Advertisement in Weltkunst, 15 June 1969, reproduced on back cover;
F. Lewis, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Flower, Fruit and Still-Life Painters, 15^th and 19^th Century, Leigh-on-Sea 1973, p. 46;
A. Sutherland Harris, L. Nochlin, in Woman Artists: 1550-1950, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles 1976, p. 35;
F. Fox Hofrichter, Judith Leyster: A Woman Painter in Holland’s Golden Age, Doornspijk 1989, p. 63. cat. no. 43, reproduced plate 42, & in colour plate XVI;
C. Kortenhorst-von Bogendorf Rupprath, in Judith Leyster: A Dutch Master and Her World, exhibition catalogue, Haarlem, Frans Halsmuseum, 16 May -22 August 1993, pp. 210-13, cat. no. 15, reproduced in colour p. 211;
E. Gemar-Koeltzsch, Holländische Stilleben im 17. Jahrhundert, Lingen 1995, vol. III, p. 603, cat. nos. 212/3 & 212/4 (confused as two separate pictures), reproduced.

This is one of only three recorded still lifes by Judith Leyster, and is the only surviving example.  While Leyster has chosen a colourful basket of fruit to dominate this rare foray into the genre, the flanking tankard and roemer are clearly inspired by Pieter Claesz, the leading exponent of the monochrome breakfast piece, or bankjete, the style prevalent in her home town of Haarlem in the 1630s.  Indeed the present lot is reminiscent of some of Claesz’s early still lifes, before his work adopts the more subtle palette and the entirely monochrome motif; compare, for example, with his still life of 1629, in a private collection (for which see M. Brunner-Bulst, Pieter Claesz, Lingen 2004, p. 229, cat. no. 41, reproduced in colour p. 43). Both Harms and Fox Hofrichter (see literature below) agree on a date of circa 1630, the former by comparison to the early works of Jan Davidsz. De Heem, the latter noting the influence of Pieter Claesz. in Leyster’s native Haarlem.

 The faint reflection of an easel in the pewter tankard has led some scholars to suggest that Leyster may have attempted a subtle inclusion of a self-portrait in the painting; perhaps drawing on the fact that this genre was somewhat unusual in her oeuvre.