The Jolly Toper

Judith Leyster's "Jolly Toper" (c. 1629) in the Rijksmuseum depicts a laughing drinker raising his glass in a toast. The painting demonstrates Leyster's accomplished command of the genre tradition pioneered by Frans Hals, capturing the convivial atmosphere of Dutch tavern life with energy and wit. Leyster executed her genre paintings in oil on panel with a direct unelaborated technique that achieves considerable luminosity through warm tonal glazing. After her marriage to Jan Molenaer in 1636...

The drinker's animated expression and raised glass are rendered with bold, Hals-influenced brushwork, the warm palette and dramatic lighting creating an intimate scene of uninhibited merriment.