Dutch School, 17th century

With Mortimer Brandt Gallery, New York, by 1940 (as Judith Leyster);

Van der Horst collection, New York;

By whom anonymously sold, New York, Parke Bernet, 26-27 February 1947, lot 26 (as Judith Leyster);

Where acquired by S.B. Fertig (1887-1961);

Thence by descent to a private collector;

By whose estate anonymously sold ("Property of an Estate"), New York, Sotheby's, 26 January 2012, lot 174 (as Dutch School, 17th Century);

Where acquired by the present collector.

F. Fox Hofrichter, Judith Leyster: A Woman Painter in Holland's Golden Age, Doornspijk 1989, p. 78, cat. no. D 13, reproduced fig. 106 (under Incorrectly Attributed Works).

Formerly attributed to Judith Leyster, this work is a charming example of the innovative nachtstukjes, or nocturnal genre scenes, produced in the Netherlands during the 1600s. Beside a table displaying the remnants of a recent meal, a young woman has fallen asleep in her chair, warmed by the dying embers of a hearth at her feet. A single source of light—the wall-mounted oil lamp behind her–casts shadows throughout the dim interior, illuminated by a warm atmospheric glow.

When sold at Sotheby’s in 1947, this painting was accompanied by a certificate from Dr. Wilhelm Valentiner endorsing an attribution to Leyster, citing similarities between the present work and Woman Sewing by Candlelight.¹

¹ See F. Fox Hofrichter, Judith Leyster: A Woman Painter in Holland's Golden Age, Doornspijk 1989, p. 54, cat. no. 24.