Willem Cornelisz Duyster (1599 - 1635) was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Amsterdam, best known for his guardroom scenes, and genre paintings showing military life. He knew his exact contemporary Pieter Codde well, though in a brawl between them in 1625 Codde hit him in the face with a "tin pitcher" at a country house party hosted by another artist. Unlike many painters of guardroom scenes, he avoided depicting prostitutes, with the women in his military paintings often hostages for ransom or the victims of looting or worse. Duyster's career was cut short when he succumbed to the plague in 1635.
[Mauritshuis, The Hague - Oil on panel, 39.1 x 31 cm]