One of only two female members of the painters' guild in her native Haarlem, Judith Leyster was an independent Dutch artist with her own workshop and pupils. As the eighth child of a brewer and clothmaker, Leyster's career almost ended before it began when her father was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1624. There are no records of her artistic education, but by the time she was 18 Leyster was already mentioned favorably in a book about culture in Haarlem.

Her work was clearly influenced by the content and style of genre paintings created by the noted Haarlem artists Frans Hals and his brother Dirck. Like them, Leyster had a talent for painting lively scenes of people enjoying themselves in taverns, playing music, and the like. Such subjects were very popular with Holland's newly prosperous middle class, the principal buyers of contemporary Dutch art.

Leyster produced most of her paintings between ca. 1629 and 1635; her artistic output decreased dramatically after her marriage in 1636 to the painter Jan Miense Molenaer. The couple soon moved to Amsterdam and had at least five children. In addition to raising the children, Leyster may have managed the family's business and properties; she probably also assisted with her husband's art. By 1649 the family was back in Haarlem, where Leyster spent the remainder of her life.

Although well known during her lifetime, Leyster and her work were largely forgotten after her death until 1893, when a painting acquired by the Louvre was found to have Leyster's distinctive monogram (her initials entwined with a five-pointed star) hidden under a false signature reading "Frans Hals." This discovery led to renewed research and appreciation of Leyster's oeuvre, which had previously been confused with that of Hals. A 1993 retrospective exhibition of Leyster's paintings and the related research have helped restore this painter to her proper place in art history.