My favorite picture ever

I have managed to check off a number of bucket list line items in the past few years what with the poison ivy identification and the climbing of a lighthouse and now this. Seeing my favorite picture of all times live and in person at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Its a self portrait of Judith Leyster. My love affair with her began way back when we lived in the Netherlands. One of our favorite castles to visit was called Muiderslot. It was on the outskirts of Amsterdam and it had all the requisite features of a castle, crenelations, towers a moat...everything. It is what I see when I think of a castle. During the 1600's salons were hosted there for the local movers and shakers, almost exclusively men, except for one daring young woman, Judith Leyster. She was ahead of her time and was successful in a mans world at a mans trade. Whats more, it was as if she was welcomed into it, and was treated as an equal. Thats when I first learned of her, and thought she must have been extraordinary. I think I saw a still life that she painted hanging in the castle. It was not till as a going away present that our Dutch friends gave us a book on the Dutch golden age of painting that I first saw Judith's self portrait. Remembering her from the Castle I was tickled to see her looking back at me and I could instantly see why she was welcomed in the Salon. She has that quality about her that makes you want to know her better.

Seeing the picture in person just made me love it all the more. It was as if I had stopped by her studio for a visit and she was talking and painting at the same time, and stopped just for a moment to turn and give full attention to me. I think one reason I love it is because I know that moment, have lived that moment dozens of times. Usually sitting around with a group of women, maybe we are quilting, or working on miniatures or decorating cakes...whatever work is at hand and the chatter is flowing, but somebody says something that warrants full attention so work halts just for a moment and then resumes again almost before it had completely stopped and the moment is so natural its hardly noticed. That is what Judith captures in her picture and I never really recognized that until I saw it on the wall in the gallery!