Professional female artists like Judith Leyster were uncommon in the Netherlands of the 17th century. In 1633, Leyster became a member of the painters’ guild in Haarlem, where she set up her own workshop the following year. Even though she was a prominent painter, her work has often been attributed to male artists, in particular Frans Hals. That was the case also with this portrait, which was accepted as a work by Leyster as late as the 1970s.