Young Boy in Profile

Judith Leyster

National Gallery of Art

This round portrait painting shows the head, face, and the top of the shoulders of a young, blond boy with pale, peachy skin and flushed cheeks, facing our right in profile against a tan background. Light comes from behind us and to our left, so the boy’s cheek, jawline, and ear are brightly lit as he looks straight ahead, to our left. He has long, dark eyelashes, a turned-up nose, and his full, coral-pink lips are closed. The cheek we see is deeply flushed along the curve, near the nose and mouth. His short, light brown hair is highlighted with gold strands where it catches the light. A long tendril falls down past his chin on the far side of his face. He wears a fitted jacket, perhaps of brown velvet, stitched along the seams in a lighter golden color. The narrow, white ruff encircling his neck above the jacket is pleated to create a pattern of figure-eights. The background is lighter to our right and deepens to a brownish olive green to our left. The portrait is somewhat loosely painted with visible brushstrokes.