Boy Playing the Flute

Additional texteCatalogue text: There were many women artists in the 17th century, especially in northern Europe. Most of them were court painters, but in Holland hey were able, like Judith Leyster, to join the Guild of St Luke and become masters in their own right. Leyster had her own studio with students in Haarlem in the 1630s, and mainly painted genre pictures of people making music. Boy Playing the Flute was for a long time attributed to Frans Hals. Many female artists were made invisible in this way, their names erased by art historians to whom the male artist was the norm. Description: This painting is one of Leyster best and most important works. It is probably made in the early 1630s. The composition is innovative and the subject is a combination of genre picture, a still life, and a portrait. In connection with the acquisition in 1871, the painting was attributed to both Frans Hals by Jan de Bray despite the monogram. It was not identified as a work of Judith Leyster until 1893 by Hofstede de Groot. Several scholars have discussed the iconography of this painting. Hardcastle believes that the boy is holding the flute the wrong way round, and that the painting is consequently reversed. This view is refuted by Hofrichter, who points out that a simple flute can be held either way. She also suggests that the painting may have a hidden meaning, representing one of the five senses, namely Hearing. Franits has remarked that the juxtaposition of a flute and a violin might not be purely fortuitous. Within the ideological world of early modern music, these instruments were considered antipodes. Stringed instruments theoretically belonged to a loftier category, associated with Pythagorean harmony, whereas wind instruments were considered less sophisticated, frequently being depicted in the hands of peasants or shepherds. The flute player’s upward glance can often be found in similar depictions of musicians and saints, and alludes to the capacity of music to inspire and animate. Source: Dutch and Flemish Paintings II, p. 280. The painting is one of Leyster best artwork. It is probably made in the early 1630s. The painting was donated to the museum 1871. Then it was believed that it was made by Frans Hals or Jan de Bray. 1893 it was discovered that it was painted by Judith Leyster. Exhibition text: The boy playing a flute gazes out of the picture. Leyster’s deft brushwork and the boy’s unsteady pose, leaning against the broken back of the chair, create a sense of a moment in time. Music, the most transient of art forms, was associated with lust and vanity. Professional women artists like Leyster were rare in 17th-century Holland. Despite her prominence, Leyster’s paintings were attributed after her death to male artists, including Frans Hals.