jUDITH LEYSTER'S PROPOSITION.

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~ . .. 4 i ~ i ! ;; when he visited Haarlem in 1634, just three years after her painting was completed, and he may have remembered it when painting the same subject many years later. But Ter Borch's elegant setting and the quiet mood do not change the attitude of the artist or the intention of the officer, here, who declares his needs to the young woman with his op~ and his open palm filled ~ ~o~ F or eveninT ei~ mtimate scenes, the men are entertained by the women who are clearly courtesans serving luscious fruit and wine. And although his work is a rar cry from the blatant Caravaggesque procuresses, Ter Borch nevertheless does not concern himself with the circumstances or victimization of woman, but sees her only as the vehicle to fulfill the sexual relationship. Figure 7-Gabriel Metsu. An Orrer ur Wine. c. 1650. Vicnna. Kunsthistorisches Museum new Figure 8-Jan Yermeer. TM Concert. C 1660. Boston. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Leyster.s Proposition as a prototype foT this theme. Also, Lawrence Gow. ing. in his book Vermeer." uses Metsu.s painting lO illustrate the idea of lhe interrumed moment (soecifjcall,. ~ theme of ~stitution, procuresses, brothels, and prodigal sons. alone. one can see a continuum ~ hjS subject through the century. "ye here are, for example, deli berate ausions to the past in some of Vermeer's paintings of the 1 660s. In one of them, The Concerl (Fig. 8), no doubt itself a brothel scene, hanging on the wall at the right is an earlier, blatant example of the procuress type, Baburen's Procuress of 1622, which has already been discussed. Therefore, thatthe first generation orseventeenth century genre painters exerted an innuence on the taler ones. or were in some way renected in their \\ork, ciln be seen in an evaluation of this subject miltter. That the work of Mel~u and Ter Borch was innuenced by the intimste proposition scene of Judith Leyster is certainly possible. Her work may have inspired the quieter mood in genre painting of the proposition theme. Certainly. if Judith Leyster was not their direct influence, she was, at the very least, their unrecognized forerunner. rOOTNOTES 'This arlicle ..as presenled in a slighlly different form as a paper for Ihe College Arl Associalion in January. 1975 1 should like 10 thank Professor Ann Sulherland Harris for first Inlroduclng me 10 Ihe works of Judith Leysler. Her unwavering support and genuine enthusiasm for Ihis work and her continued encouragemenl Ihroughout the ..,iling of my M.A. thesis. Judi/h L~.I's/~r A Pr~/irninar)' (ala/ugu~ (Hunter Colle~e). hiS meanl a ~real deal IU me I would also like 10 Ihank Professor Marlin Eldelberg rar his prodding crilicism and qulel encoura~emenl during Ihe wriling of Ihis arlicle and Ihe CAA paper-and 10 Ihank hirn most or all for his patience I Juliane Harms. ., Judilh Leysler: Ihr Leben und ihr \\erk:' Oud-Ho//and, XLIV. 19~i. MM-96, 113-126, 145-154, 221-242,275- 279 The base of Harms's research ..as Cornelius Hof siede de Grool's discover'j, in IM93. or Le'j'sler's monogram on Tht Happ)' ('oup/~. no.. in Paris, The Louvre. The painlin~ had lust been sold as a Frans Hals, and Horslede de Grool's discover'j resulled in a 1a.. suil He also. eiled si~ other monogrammed works by Leyster "hich he had found. C Horslede de Grool. .. Judith Leysler." Jahr- buch d~r Kunig/ich Pr~sussisch~n Kuns/- .larnm/u/lg/'/l. Val. XIV. IM93, pp. 190-198, 232. 11 is also noleworthy thai the eighteenth century biographer, Arnold Houbraken, in his D~ KruD//' schouburgh d~r ,\td~r/an/sch~ Aonsl'chi/d~rs ~n schi/d~r~ss~n (1718). did not include Leysler, allhough he did include almosl t..o dozen olher warnen arlisls (including Maria van Ooslerwyck. Maria de Grebber. and Anna Maria van Schuurmans). as weil as Leysler's husband, Jan Miense Molenaer. 2. Harms. ,. Judilh Leyster,'. 90. 3 HofsIede de Groot. Jahrbüch. p, 192, Leysler, 100. played a ward game of her own in her monogram. wh ich is a connecled J. L. and a Slar. 4 A, Bredius. "Een Connecl lusschen Frans Hals en Judilh Leysler ," Oud-Ho//and, XXXV. 1917.71-77 5 The lilie PrupuSilion is used hefe, allhou~h the painting has borne several olher litles in Ihe pasl. It has been called both Th~ T~"'pling Offt'r (Ihe implicalions of which are tao obviousl) se~isl rar elaboration) and /h~ Rt:it'CI/'d Oll/'r. allhough the aclual rejeclion has nOI yet laken place And Ihe nineleenlh CenlUr) lilie. Th~ S~ornslr~ss. gives rar too lil- Ile Inrormalion 10 be or an] value. 6. Andor Pigler, 8arock/h~m~n, 11, 1956. pp. 529. 544-546 7, One nolable ex.: eplion is Baburen.s Procur~ss of 1623, in the Residenz, Wurzburg ". . Ihe girl is un",lling. the old procuress is firm. and the soldler demanding.' Leonard J SIOIlkes. DircJ; von 8obur~" (c /595-/624/ A 25
Dulch Painlel' in UII'echl and Rolnt, Utrecht, 1969, p 7~, 8 Pcrhaps tbc carlicst cxamplc of tbc dcpiction of a woman rcaching for tbc man's pursc as she is bcing kisscd is Flol'a and Faunliw (?) from Boccaccio. Dt clal'ia In ulitl'ibw , Ncw York Public Library, Spcnccr Collection, MS33. (second half of tbc fiftccnth ccntury), Scc Julius Hcld. "Flora. Goddcss and Courtcsan," Essa)'s in Honol' of Erwin Panofsk)', Ncw York, 1961, pp. 201-218. 9. Many cxamplcs of tbc thcme of the illmatchcd lovers cxist To list just a fe... of tbc artists who havc dealt with it: Mctsys, Cranach, Jan Lys. van Micris, Bylcrt. H. v. J. Mijn. Tcrbrugghen. Furthcrmorc, thcrc are also many cngravings: Hendrick Goltzius (Bartsch 6-266-169, 170), arier H Goltzius (Bartsch 3-204-302), Durer (Bartsch 7.103-93). and Jacob Goltzius (Hollslcin 2; 3) 10. The thcmc of mcn bcing victimizcd by womcn is weIl illustratcd in Philip Gallcn's engraving after Macrtcn Hccmskcrks, The Mighl oflhe Woman, whcre womcn ofthe Old Testamcnt are shown, in six sccncs. in thc proccss of maiming or trying to dcstroy a man, lcading 10 his downfall. For furthcr discussion, see two articlcs by Madlyn Kahr: .'Delilah:' Al'l Bullelin, LlV. Sept., 1972. 282.299, and ..Rcmbrandl and Delilah." Al'l Bullelin, LV, June, 1973,240-259. fi j .;;, Romaine IIrooks. Sel( Portrait pencil. a~e 25 (M allre Leon. M:lrle Emmanuel.) Pholo: COUrle,) Doubled:l} 26 I 1 Seymour Sllve notes thai ..care must be laken not to jump to hasty cr:-~lusions about the character of a woman upon the basis of the clothes she wears.' He cite~ the engraving of .. Fair Alice,.' a courtesan in Crispin van de Passe's A Looking Glass oflhr Mosl B~auliful Courl~sa'lS of Th~se Timrs (1630), who is dressed in the height of fashion: a mi 1I stone ruff. a stiff bodice. and a cap Slive, Frans Hals. I, London. 1971. pp. 92-93. 12 There are changes in proportion, background. space. and the addition of a map and a wine gliss The 1935 French edition of the Mauritshuis catalogue (Hague. Royal Piclure Gallery. Mus~e Royal de Tab/~aux Maurilshuis a la Ha.I'e Calalogue Raiso/lne de TablealLl: el Sr:ulprures( indicates thai another version or this painting. mcluding a cat and a globe and the monogram P M B, was in the Porges Collection in Paris A suggestion is also m;tde thai Hals '142-B (seamstress with old m;tn) in the Hofstede de Groot catalogue (Be.'chreibe/lde' und Arirschrs Vrrz~ichnis d~r Hf'rkl! df'r hrrvnrragr/ldslr/l holla/ldisr:h~n Malf'r dl!s ,\VII Jahrhundrrrs. Val, 111, Paris. 1910) (Engllsh trans, E,G, Hawke. London. 1910. muy be the Leyster in question 13, The text reads "Mignon des Dames'. Een Stoof met vier daer in, is een bemint luwell by anse Hollantsche Vrouwen, bysonder :JI~ de Sneeu-vlocken vlieghen. en de Haghel ende Rijp hel lor \'an de boomen jaeght dan by henlleden de tweede plaetse van ghe.. , tc wesen wil bejaghen. die moet hem stellen om haer te dienen met een soete boertighe. ver. maekoelijcke praet. mydende alle dorperheYd en vilonie sonder haer kaeckelen cende snappen te berispen. nimmermeer haer puys pronckende kleederen te bejocken: maer al prysen wal zy doen en voorstellen, dan sal hy in haer gheselschap voor een colmaect courtisaen ghepresen worden, [A footwarmer with fire in it is a beloved jewel with Dur Dutch warnen, es. pecially when the snownakes fall and the h-:! and the frost chase the leaves from the tr" The man who wants to win attention in sec" place with warnen (rlrst place goes to the root-.armer) has to rush himself to serve her -.ith sweet. funny. small talk. avoiding all clumsiness and rudeness without reprimanding her chatter and never making fun of her frilly clothes, But ir he praises what she does and ho-. she looks, then he will be praised in her company as a perfect gentlemen (courtier).) 14 The painting is now held to be a work "after" Metsu See FrankIIn W. Robinsc, Gabril'/ M~rsu (/629./6671: A Sr ud)' 01 P/ac~ in Durch G~nrl' Painring 01 rhl' Go/", Ag~. Ne-. York. 1974, p, 70, 15 Ibid,. pp, 19.20. 16. Lawrence Gowing, V~rml'~r. London. 1970, p. 115, BOOK REVIEW: BETWEEN ME AND LIFE: A BIOGRAPHY OF ROMAINE BROOKS 8\' JILL JANOWS BETWEEN ME AND lIFE: A BIOGRAPHY OF ROMAINE by Meryle Secrest, Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1974. $12.50. BROOKS, FALL. "5 loveless circun painler Rama form 01 biL~r! sludy lhOll \\ ou seOl~oned 01 Ne\'erlhele~~ cumSlance~ 01. siderable creö: severe homelir, Iy becOImc: evocali\'e gr;!~ portraits faml 1970 Oll the Brooks.s 01 prominence ir two \\'orld forgollen, Thi nali~t Mer~1e resurrect publi "My deOld n and life... slat w~s \"ell inlo pronouncemen an epilOlph to I \\alerman
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jUDITH LEYSTER'S PROPOSITION.

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