Women of the Mauritshuis

Rachel Ruysch (1664 - 1750) broke the glass ceiling. She grew up in a house full of jars containing preserved human remains. Her father was the famous anatomist and botanist Frederik Ruysch. He recognised Rachel’s talent and when she was 15 sent her to train with Willem van Aelst, a famous artist. This was very unusual for a girl at that time. If you were from a poor family, you had to work from a young age. If you were from a rich family, like Rachel Ruysch, you were in fact expected not to work, but to prepare yourself for marriage and motherhood. Why did Rachel Ruysch pay absolutely no attention to these conventions?

Meet the leading lady of the baroque: Michaelina Wautier (1604 - 1689). Most women who managed to become artists generally focused on one genre: floral still lifes - like Rachel Ruysch – or portraits. But not Michaelina Wautier. She could paint anything, from portraits to still lifes and from scenes from everyday life to history paintings. And often on huge canvases. History paintings were the most highly regarded genre, so they were painted almost exclusively by men. Michaelina Wautier’s were therefore often attributed to men. But this one wasn’t. She signed it with 'fecit' (made by) and ‘invenit' (devised by) Michaelina Wautier. So let there be no doubt as to who painted it.

Move over Frans Hals, here comes Judith Leyster (1609-1660). We don’t know who taught her (many think it was Frans Hals, as their styles are so similar), but by the age of twenty Leyster’s paintings were already famous. Strangely enough, over the following centuries she was pretty much forgotten. How come? After she married Leyster painted much less. Perhaps that is why she was not included in Arnold Houbraken’s book of great Dutch artists De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718 - 1721). Houbraken simply didn’t know she ever existed. His historical overview was a standard reference until well into the 19th century. Fortunately, art historian Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, who worked for the Mauritshuis, rediscovered Leyster in 1893.

The earliest known self-portrait by a Dutch painter is by… a woman! It dates from 1548, and is by none other than Catharina van Hemessen (1528 - after 1567). Her composition – showing the artist at work, holding brushes, a palette and a stick, with a work in progress on the easel in the background – has been copied by many famous artists. This pioneer mainly painted small portraits, usually of women. This painting – Rest on the Flight to Egypt (c. 1555) - is very big by her standards. She demonstrates here that she was not only capable of depicting a loving embrace, but also that she was an exceptionally good landscape artist.

This might seem like a casual everyday scene depicting a real situation, but there is a symbolic moral aspect to this image. In the 17th century marriage and family life were held in great reverence. The duties of a woman were glorified, described and depicted in glowing terms. You could therefore see this painting as propaganda, the image of the ‘ideal housewife’. It is good to remember that you’re looking at a 17th-century painting. After a visit to the Mauritshuis, you might be forgiven for thinking that 17th-century society was strictly divided. Men were heroes, women did the housework. The reality was less black-and-white, but this perception still exists to this day. It still tends to be mothers who search through their kids’ hair looking for those pesky little beasts.

You may have noticed when you look at the labels next to paintings that there is often no information about the people portrayed in them. This was also the case here. You got information about what it was painted on (copper), what effect that had (a very detailed painting), the symbolism of the swan pie (love), but who is that woman? She is in fact artist Anna Brueghel, daughter of master painter Jan Brueghel the Elder. She was married to David Teniers, who painted this scene. Not a single one of her paintings has survived, but her wealth and family connections helped Teniers make his breakthrough as an artist. Anna Brueghel often modelled for Teniers’ paintings, usually with their son David, who stands beside her here, holding the plate of peeled apples.

This is Maria of Orange at the age of 19, with her cousin and a servant. She is not wearing the usual attire of a wealthy 17th-century woman. The outfit is much too big, and she is wearing her hair loose. Women never wore their hair loose – only men did. Is this actually a woman? Yes it is, but in this painting she is wearing men’s clothing: a loose-fitting riding suit with a cravat – a sort of forerunner of the necktie – plus a red bow and a man’s wig. We do not know why she is dressed like this, but we do know that such outfits caused an outcry at the time. It was simply not done for a woman to dress this way!

We know almost nothing about Clara Peeters (1588/1589 - after 1636). This fortunately means that our attention is focused entirely on her work, rather than on her life. Clara Peeters was an innovator in still life painting. She gave a lot of attention to highly realistic details such as the chip in the stone tabletop, theglittering reflections and the imprint of a knife in the butter. She usually signed her work ‘CLARA P’, but here she signs her full name (on the blade of the knife). She also hid tiny self-portraits in her work. You can see her in this painting reflected in the pewter lid of the jug.