An exhibition in Ghent is casting a long-overdue spotlight on a generation of women artists who were celebrated in their time but later erased from the history of the Baroque period in the Low Countries.
The showcase, which recently opened at the Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) in Ghent, features more than forty artists who were active between 1600 and 1750. It challenges the traditional narrative of a golden age dominated solely by male painters like Rembrandt and Vermeer, presenting a compelling case that the art world of the era was far more diverse.
For centuries, these women’s contributions were systematically overlooked. Judith Leyster, a pioneering figure admitted to a painters’ guild in Haarlem in 1630, saw her work after her death attributed to her husband or to famous male contemporaries like Frans Hals. Her paintings, and those of many others, were often relegated to museum storage or sold without recognition of their true creators.
The exhibition reveals that in their own lifetimes, these artists achieved significant success and commanded high prices. Maria van Oosterwijck’s still-life paintings hung in palaces across Europe. Paper-cutting artist Johanna Koerten received commissions from royalty, with records suggesting one piece for the Holy Roman Empress earned her more than twice what Rembrandt was paid for his famed The Night Watch.
Scholars point to the 19th century, when art history was formalized as an academic discipline, as the period when women were written out of the story. Male historians often dismissed their work as imitative or focused exclusively on painting, marginalizing the applied arts—such as intricate lace-making, calligraphy, and paper-cutting—where many women excelled.
The stories of these artists are as varied as their work. Some made radical life choices to pursue their craft. Louise Hollandine, a princess and talented portrait painter, abandoned her royal life in The Hague to enter a French convent, trading silks for a nun’s habit to avoid an arranged marriage and maintain her artistic freedom.
Other rediscoveries are more recent. Painter Catrina Tieling was virtually unknown until last year, when a re-examination of works long credited to her brother revealed they were signed with her initials. Her landscape painting in the exhibition is a rare example of the genre by a woman from this period.
The exhibition not only displays their art but also prompts a reevaluation of the era’s cultural and economic landscape. It highlights how these skilled professionals were integral to the artistic flourishing of the time, their legacies waiting centuries to be fully acknowledged and restored to their rightful place in history.
