Today's Google Doodle: Here's who Judith Leyster was and why she was honoured by Google today

The artist is the latest person to pop up above Google’s search bar on the tech giant’s home page.

If you’ve visited Google’s website today you’ll have seen the latest Google Doodle – the daily artwork that mark important dates. occasions, people and anniversaries.

The Google logo appears painted on an artist’s canvas, with woman holding a paintbrush and flowers in the foreground.

Here’s everything you need to know about Judith Leyster - the artist the doodle celebrates.

Who was Judith Leyster

Judith Leyster was born in the Dutch city of Haarlem in 1609 and was one of the painters of the Dutch Golden Age, alongside such household names as Rembrandt and Johannes Vermeer.

She specialised in portraits and still lives and was highly acclaimed by her art world contemporaries and critics when she was alive.

After she died in 1660 she was effectively written out of history, with her works wrongly attributed to fellow Dutch artist Frans Hals (who may have been her teacher) or to her husband, Jan Miense Molenaer.

It was not until the late 19th century that she began to be reinstated to her rightful place amongst the most brilliant artists of her times – after her monogram was found under the fabricated signatire of Frans Hals by experts at the Louvre.

Even then some art historians wrote her off as an imitator or follower of Hals, but by the late 20th century this had very much become a minority view.

What is her most famous painting?

Leyster’s most famous painting – and the one that is most often talked about – is ‘The Woman In The Mirror’. It’s also the painting that inspired the Google Doodle.

It is a self portrait of the artist drawing a painting of a man playing a fiddle. X-rays of the painting show that she originally depicted a woman on the canvas.

Where can you see her work?

Leyster’s paintings can be seen in some of the word’s leading art galleries, including the Amderdams’ Rijksmuseum, the Mauritshuis in The Hague, the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, the Louvre in Paris, the National Gallery in London, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.

What countries saw the Judith Leyster Google Doodle?

Not every Google Doodle appears in every country. The Judith Leyster Google Doodle appeared in the Netherlands, Iceland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Why was today chosen for the Google Doodle?

On December 19, 2009, both America’s National Gallery of Art, and the Frans Hals Museum, in the artist’s hometown of Haarlem, held exhibitions to honor Judith Leyster’s paintings.

After years of being discredited, the exhibitions represented a major turning point for her work, hence the date is now an important one for her legacy.