Jolly Toper [SEP] collection
Jolly Toper
The Jolly Toper is a 1629 oil painting by Judith Leyster in the collection of the Rijksmuseum that is on long term loan to the Frans Hals Museum since 1959. It was acquired by the museum as a painting by Frans Hals and was attributed to Leyster by the researcher Juliane Harms in 1927.
Provenance.
The painting was sold in Hotel Drouot in Paris in 1890 as by Hals or a son to Schiff and was bought by the Rijksmuseum in 1897 from F. Kleinberger of Paris. The painting is signed
viewer. A medallion dangles from his neck chain, which Hofstede de Groot claimed was a likeness of Prince Maurice of Orange. Various experts have claimed the painting represents the sense of taste. In old Dutch inventories, the theme of a "merry drinker" or "jolly toper" occurs often, and this was probably not a portrait but meant as a genre piece.
Sources.
- "Frans Hals", a catalogue raisonné of Hals works by Seymour Slive: Volume Three, the catalogue, National gallery of