Women artists in all ages and countries

by E. F. Ellet

This state of things was eminently favorable to female enterprise, and we find, accordingly, in a number of fair artists, evidences of the energetic industry and careful minuteness for which the women of Holland have been particularly noted. However, in the earliest efforts at painting de genre, wherein the Flemish artists stood opposed to the schools of Italy, women took no share. These trial specimens usually consisted of some rough piece after nature, such as the drunken boors and rustic women of the elder Breughel, and for a long time the prevailing taste ran on the low, coarse, and fantastic in the models selected. There was more to disgust than to attract cultivated women in such a fashion, and, notwithstanding their alleged fancy to run into extremes, this will account for the fact that they did not choose to be numbered among those who delighted in such a copying of nature. One we hear of, Anna Breughel, seems to have been a kinswoman of a younger painter of that name.

The earnestness, depth, and intensity given to this species of art by Rembrandt seemed to lie as little within the compass of female fancy, which rather delighted in pleasing delineations of more superficial emotion, than in the concentration of the deepest feelings of nature. Thus few women were found among the immediate disciples of Rembrandt.

But as painting de genre accommodated itself more pleasingly to representations of ordinary life and circumstances, and the delicacy of detail that formed the peculiar charm of this species of art was lavished on attractive phases of character, the school became more and more the nursery of female talent.

Literature, at this period, experienced a similar change; and it is interesting to see the same persons pursuing both branches of study. This was the case with the two painters, Tesselschade-Visscher—called the “Dutch Muses,” on account of their poetry—with Elizabeth Hoffmann, and the dramatic poet, Catharina Lescaille; also with one of whom we shall presently speak, whose fame traveled far beyond the boundaries of her native land.

Among the older artists of the Dutch school we may mention, in passing, the fruit and flower painter, Angelica Agnes Pakman; Madame Steenwyk, a designer in architecture; and the portrait-painter, Anna de Bruyn. Anna Tessala was eminent as a skillful carver in wood. Concerning Maria Grebber, a pupil of Savary, Van Mander remarks that she was well skilled both in perspective and in building plans. Maria and Gezina Terburg were sisters of Gerard, and, like him, skillful in genre-painting.

Gottfried Schalken, who introduced a simpler method, and surprising effects of light, was not more celebrated than his sister and pupil, Maria, for productions remarkable for delicacy of execution and tender expression. Eglon van der Neer shared his fame with his wife, Adriana Spilberg. She was born in Amsterdam, in 1646, and was taught by her father, an eminent painter. She excelled in crayons or pastels, though she often painted in oil. Her portraits were said to be accurate likenesses. They were delicately colored, and executed with neatness and care. She was much patronized at the court of Düsseldorf.

Caspar Netscher, one of the best and most pleasing masters in this peculiar style, had a disciple in Margaretta Wulfraat, whose historical paintings—a Cleopatra and a Semiramis—are to be seen in Amsterdam, and who died at a great age early in the eighteenth century.

A still greater interest attaches to artists who also took an active part in the elevation of Dutch literature. Anna and Maria Tesselschade—the daughters of Visscher, already mentioned—belonged to this class; they were also celebrated for their fine etchings on glass. Their literary culture brought them into association with the most eminent scholars of that day.

With them may be ranked Margaretta Godewyck—born at Dort, in 1627, and a pupil of Maas—who attained celebrity both in painting and in her knowledge of the ancient and modern languages. She was called “the second Schurmann,” and many praised her as “the lovely flower of art and literature of the Merwestrom;” that is, of Dortrecht. She painted landscapes and flowers, and embroidered them with great skill. She died at fifty.

Catharina Questier, who resided at Amsterdam, was distinguished for painting, copper-engraving, and modeling in wax, besides having no small consideration accorded to her poetry. Two of her comedies, that appeared in 1655, evince her skill in at least three branches; for the drawings and engravings that illustrated the dramas were entirely her own design and execution.