A Lute Player, known as ‘The Serenade’

A young man in a feathered cap and loose white collar plays the lute as he leans forward in profile, his eyes cast toward the music. Painted in 1629, this small panel is among the finest works of Judith Leyster, who in her brief but brilliant career became one of the few women to win full membership in the Haarlem painters’ guild. The virtuoso handling of the white collar, the lively pattern of the sleeves and the absorbed mood of the sitter make it one of the most admired musical scenes of the Dutch Golden Age, and a rare signed masterwork by an artist long overlooked by art history.