A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and an Eel

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Catalogue entry

JUDITH LEYSTER, 1609–1660
5417 A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and (?)an Eel

Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, 1991

Extracted from:
Neil MacLaren; revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, The Dutch School 1600–1900 (London: National Gallery Publications Limited, 1991).

Plate 193

Signed on the right, above the girl’s shoulder: iudiyh [sic] followed by a star (worn and faint, the star barely visible).

**Vol. 2, p. 460, 4**
Leyster (No. 5417) © The National Gallery, London

Oil on oak, 59.4 × 48.8 (23⅜ × 19³⁄₁₆).

Cleaned in 1981–2. Considerable paint loss along the vertical join in the centre of the panel.

PENTIMENTI: The X‐radiograph (Fig. 48) reveals a number of significant changes. The girl at first had a kerchief instead of a ruff around her neck with the ends crossed over her chest. Two other positions for the cat were attempted and the boy’s shoulder was originally slightly higher. There were small alterations to his scarf.

**Vol. 1, p. 608, Figure 48**
Judith Leyster, *A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and (?) an Eel* (No. 5417). Composite X‐ray photograph. © The National Gallery, London

Discussion

MacLaren made two suggestions about the meaning of the painting. He thought it might illustrate a Dutch proverb or saying, such as ‘to hold an eel by its tail’. The proverb in its entirety is ‘to hold an eel by its tail does not mean you have caught it’. He also noted similarities to an engraving by Cornelis Danckerts of Two Children with a Cat, the verses beneath which refer to freedom from care.¹ (Hofrichter² has recently pointed out that this print is after a work by Leyster.) Each interpretation, however, accounts for only one of the animals in the painting. Hofrichter³ prefers to relate the painting to an emblem in Guillaume de la Perrière’s Le théâtre des bons engins auquel sont contenu cent emblèmes moraulx, of which a Dutch edition had appeared in 1554.⁴ It shows a man who holds an eel in his right hand and a woman’s left hand in his left. The text comments on the woman’s fickleness and infidelity and notes that maintaining a woman’s love is like ‘holding an eel by its tail’. The children, Hofrichter suggests, mock adult behaviour, a familiar conceit in Dutch genre paintings. In Hofrichter 1989 ( op. cit. ) it is proposed that the creature is a slow‐worm (anguis fragilis)]. For the present writer none of these explanations is entirely satisfactory and a particular text or saying remains to be discovered.

Judith Leyster often signed her pictures with J or L followed by a star, a punning reference to her surname.⁵ The spelling of her Christian name here is apparently unique on a painting.⁶ In an Amsterdam inventory of 1642⁷ is recorded: ‘Een schilderij synde twee lachenden tronyen met een Catien soo groot als’t leven en naer het leven geschildert door Judith Molenaer.’ (‘A painting of two people laughing with a cat life‐size and painted from the life by Judith Molenaer.’) It is possible that this is No. 5417. A date in the late 1630s or early 1640s would be acceptable.⁸

PROVENANCE: In the [John Hotchkis] sale, London, 8 July 1910 (lot 30),⁹ bought by Rutley (Reynolds Gallery, London), 720 gns; Mrs Holbrooke sale, London, 17 February 1939 (lot 98), bought by Vicars (920 gns). C. F. Leach Bequest, 1943.

EXHIBITION: London 1978–9, No. 25.

REFERENCES:

General: Hofrichter, op. cit. , cat. no. 22 [idem, 1989 op. cit. , cat. no. 44].

In text:

1. ‘Seght my of hy,/of weesens schyn,/Die lacht is blyt/Verbercht geen pyn’ (Hollstein, No. 79). The print is inscribed ‘F HALS pinxit’ but is in fact after Leyster (see Hofrichter, op. cit. ). (Back to text.)

2. and 3. Hofrichter, op. cit. (Back to text.)

[page 1.228]

4. Tpalays der Geleender Ingienen, Amsterdam, 1554. Emblem no. 88. (Back to text.)

5. Leidstar (in seventeenth‐century Dutch leydt‐sterre or ley‐ster) = lodestar; it was the name of the inn in Haarlem from which Judith Leyster’s father, a brewer, took his name. (Back to text.)

6. In documents of 1655 and 1659 she uses the form Judita (see Bredius, Künstler‐lnventare, vol. 1, pp. 17 and 22). This and similar signatures (with the date 1643) appear on two pages of a Tulip Book in the Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem (see Hofrichter, op. cit. , cat. nos. L20 and L21). (Back to text.)

7. Bredius, op. cit. , p. 14. (Back to text.)

8. Hofrichter, op. cit. , p. 63. (Back to text.)

9. The markings corresponding to this sale are on the back of the picture. (Back to text.)

List of references cited

Bredius, Künstler‐Inventare: Bredius, A., Künstler‐Inventare: Urkunden zur Geschichte der holländischen kunst des XVIten, XVIIten und XVIIIten Jahrhunderts, 8 vols, The Hague 1915–22
Davies 1959: Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The British School, revised edn, London 1959
Davies and Gould 1970: Davies, Martin, revised by Cecil Gould, National Gallery Catalogues: French School Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post‐Impressionists, etc., London 1970
Hofrichter 1979: Hofrichter, F.F., ‘Judith Leyster 1609–1660’ (diss.), Rutgers University, 1979
Hofrichter 1989: Hofrichter, F.F., Judith Leyster, Doornspijk 1989
Hollstein: Hollstein, Friedrich W.H., et al., Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, ca.1450—1700 (unfinished series), 72 vols, Amsterdam, Blaricum, Roosendaal and Rotterdam 1949–2010
de la Perrière: Perrière, Guillaume de la, Le théâtre des bons engins auquel sont contenu cent emblèmes moraulx
de la Perrière 1554: Perrière, Guillaume de la, Tpalays der Geleender Ingienen, Amsterdam 1554

List of exhibitions cited

London 1978–9: Newcastle, Hatton Art Gallery; Bolton, Museum and Art Gallery; Lincoln, Usher Art Gallery; Southampton, Art Gallery; London, The National Gallery, The National Gallery lends Dutch Genre Paintings, 1978–9

Explanatory Notes on the Catalogue

SEQUENCE The paintings are arranged alphabetically according to the name of the artist or school.

ATTRIBUTION A picture catalogued under the name of the artist is considered to be by him. ‘Attributed to’ qualifies the attribution. ‘Ascribed to’ indicates a greater degree of doubt. ‘Workshop of’ or ‘Follower of’ are self‐explanatory. ‘Style of’ indicates that the painting is an imitation or copy painted after the artist’s lifetime. A list of attributions which have been changed from the first edition of this catalogue (published in 1960) is given on pages 510–13.

INVENTORY NUMBER The National Gallery inventory number is to be found to the left of the picture title.

MEASUREMENTS These are given in centimetres, followed by inches in brackets. Height precedes width.

RIGHT and LEFT These indicate the viewer’s right and left, unless the context clearly implies the contrary.

BIOGRAPHIES MacLaren’s biographical notes on painters have been expanded and brought up to date when there is no accessible and reliable modern literature. Where such literature exists, these notes have been kept to a minimum.

REFERENCES The bibliographical references, though selective, include publications which appeared before mid‐1989. References to books and articles which appeared subsequently and which the author considered to be of importance are referred to within square brackets but could not be taken into account in the catalogue entries themselves.

LISTS AND INDEXES At the back of this volume are lists of paintings acquired since the last edition of this catalogue and changed attributions. There are also indexes to religious subjects, profane subjects, topography, previous owners, years of acquisition and inventory number.

ILLUSTRATIONS The plates of the paintings included in the catalogue are in the second volume, together with all the signatures which could be reproduced. The comparative plates are included in Volume 1.

[page 1.xiv]

VAN ‘van’ has been used in lower case throughout in accordance with The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors. The ‘van’ has been omitted for certain artists as is customary, e.g. ‘Jacob van Ruisdael’, but ‘Ruisdael’.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES ‘ op. cit. ’ may refer back to books and articles referred to under the artist’s biography (rather than in the particular catalogue entry).

CHRISTIE’S AND SOTHEBY’S Unless another location is mentioned, the sales referred to took place in London.

CLEANING The cleaning of paintings which took place before 1945 is not referred to, unless the circumstances were exceptional.

CONDITION All the paintings have been examined during the preparation of this catalogue. In many cases the condition is described, sometimes in considerable detail. If the condition is not described, the painting can be presumed to be in good condition.

PROVENANCE AND EXHIBITIONS There are separate headings for provenance and exhibitions in individual catalogue entries. In certain cases, when nineteenth‐century paintings were included in dealers’ exhibitions for example, these two sections have been conflated , .

VAN GOGH The National Gallery’s four paintings by Van Gogh (Inv. nos. 3861, 3862, 3863 and 4169) are not catalogued in this volume but in The French School by Cecil Gould.

CORNELIUS JOHNSON The one painting (Inv. no. 6280) in the National Gallery by Johnson, who was born in London of Dutch parents but moved to the Netherlands after the outbreak of the Civil War, is not included in this catalogue but in The British School by Martin Davies.

Explanatory note

This volume contains the illustrations for the catalogue of the Dutch School published in Volume 1.

The pictures and their attributions are discussed in detail in the catalogue; in this volume only the title, the artist (or attribution) and the inventory number are given.

At the end of the volume are plates of all the signatures that could be reproduced. In the interest of clarity some of these have been enlarged.

About this version

Version 1, generated from files NM_CB_1991__16.xml dated 14/10/2024 and database__16.xml dated 16/10/2024 using stylesheet 16_teiToHtml_externalDb.xsl dated 14/10/2024. Structural mark-up applied to skeleton document in full; document updated to use external database of archival and bibliographic references; entries for NG6483, NG6458, NG830, NG4503, NG835, NG6444, NG212, NG54, NG221, NG672, NG1675, NG6350, NG990, NG2531, NG6442, NG871, NG1383, NG2568 and NG6522 proofread and prepared for publication; entries for NG1383, NG2568, NG54, NG5417, NG6458, NG6522, NG672 and NG835 proofread following mark-up and corrected.

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Permalink (this version): https://data.ng.ac.uk/087M-000B-0000-0000
Permalink (latest version): https://data.ng.ac.uk/086V-000B-0000-0000
Chicago style: MacLaren, Neil and Christopher Brown. "5417 A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and (?)an Eel". 1991, online version 1, October 17, 2024. https://data.ng.ac.uk/087M-000B-0000-0000.
Harvard style: MacLaren, Neil and Brown, Christopher (1991) 5417 A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and (?)an Eel. Online version 1, London: National Gallery, 2024. Available at: https://data.ng.ac.uk/087M-000B-0000-0000 (Accessed: 23 November 2024).
MHRA style: MacLaren, Neil and Christopher Brown, 5417 A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and (?)an Eel (National Gallery, 1991; online version 1, 2024) <https://data.ng.ac.uk/087M-000B-0000-0000> [accessed: 23 November 2024]