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Originally Posted by Enzie Shahmiri
Or the work of females gets attributed to that of a male?
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Enzie, this has actually happened to some of Leyster's work. Several were attributed to Hals, then reattributed to her.
Here is a quote from Germaine Greer's famous book,
The Obstacle Race, on female artists. She writes about Judith Leyster:
"If Judith Leyster had not been in the habit of signing her work with the monogram JL attached to a star. . .her works might never have been reattributed to her. . .As a result of the discovery that
The Jolly Companions bore Leyster's monogram, the English firm which had sold the painting to Baron Schlichting in Paris as a Hals attempted to rescind their own purchase and get their money back from the dealer, Wertheimer, who had sold it to them for 4,500 pounds not only as a Hals but 'one of the finest he ever painted'. The. . .case. . .was setled in court. . .with the plaintiffs agreeing to keep the painting for 3,000 pounds plus 500 pounds costs. The gentlemen of the press made merry at the experts' expense, for all they had succeeded in doing was in destroying the value of the paintiung... . At no time did anyone throw his cap in the air and rejoice that another painter, capable of equalling Hals at his best, had been discovered."
How sad! There may be more of her paintings out here, but there is no real incentive to go through them or reattribute them.