猫とウナギを持つ少年と少女

Judith Leyster was one of the very few women admitted as a master to the painters' guild in Haarlem in the 1630s, running her own workshop when that was nearly unheard of for a woman. This lively little scene works like a visual proverb, the kind Dutch viewers enjoyed decoding. A grinning boy holds up a squirming eel while a cat wriggles in the girl's arms. Both animals slip easily from a grip, a warning that holding a thing is not the same as keeping it. The girl looks straight out at us and wags her finger, half scolding. There was a saying too that whoever plays with cats gets scratched.