The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington D.C. and the Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) in Ghent are currently preparing the first survey exhibition on women artists from the Low Countries during the “long seventeenth century” (1600-1750). This multi-artist exhibition explores the role of women active within various areas of artistic (luxury) production such as paper cutting, glass etching, lace and embroidery, calligraphy, as well as sculpture, printmaking and painting. The artworks of more than 50 well-known, lesser-known and even anonymous women artists are represented through various themes, such as identity, ambition, expectations, networks and globalization. This exhibition demonstrates that women’s artistic production was a vital part of the artistic economy in the Southern and Northern Netherlands of the seventeenth century. For more information regarding the exhibitions, see the websites of NMWA and MSK.
The organizers of the exhibition are reaching out to the CODART network to ask for assistance in locating the following works that they would like to include in the exhibition:
1. Still Life with Flowers in a Glass Vase
Anna Maria Janssens (Southern Netherlands, 1605-1668)
Still Life with Flowers in a Glass Vase
Oil on panel, 104.4 x 67.6 cm.
Signed lower right ANNA.IANSSENS.
Current whereabouts unknown (Cologne, Lempertz, 8 November 1961, lot nr. 78; Brussels, Galerie Filippo Franca, 1985).
2. Portrait of a Woman
Anna Francisca de Bruyns (Southern Netherlands, 1604-1675)
Portrait of a Woman, 1663
Oil on canvas, 66.5 x 54 cm.
Signed and dated 1633
Current whereabouts unknown (Luzern, Galerie Fisher, 11-14 May 1993, lot nr. 2425).
3. Portrait of Three Women as the Daughters of Cecrops
Louise Hollandine von der Pfalz (Northern Netherlands, 1622-1709)
Portrait of Three Women as the Daughters of Cecrops
Oil on canvas, 132.7 x 157.5 cm
Current whereabouts unknown (Christie’s, London, 21 April 2004, lot nr. 34)
4. Portrait of Sophia von der Pfalz
Louise Hollandine von der Pfalz (Northern Netherlands, 1622-1709)
Portrait of Sophia von der Pfalz
Oil on canvas, 116 x 84.2 cm
Current whereabouts unknown (Christie’s, New York, 12 January 1994, lot nr. 59)
5. Self-Portrait of Louise Hollandine von der Pfalz as a Benedictine Nun
Louise Hollandine von der Pfalz (Northern Netherlands, 1622-1709)
Self-Portrait of Louise Hollandine von der Pfalz as a Benedictine Nun
Oil on canvas, 127.5 x 93 cm
Current whereabouts unknown (Sotheby’s, Hannover, 5-15 October 2015, lot nr. 45)
6. Self-Portrait
Louise Hollandine von der Pfalz (Northern Netherlands, 1622-1709)
Self-Portrait
Oil on panel, 74.5 x 59 cm
Current whereabouts unknown (Sotheby’s, London, 27 October 2010, lot nr. 33)
7. Flower Still Life
Maria Theresia van Thielen (Southern Netherlands, 1640-1706)
Flower Still Life, 1650
Signed lower left: M.T. Van Thielen F:
Current whereabouts unknown (Sotheby’s, London, 4 December 2008, lot nr. 237)
8. Portrait of a woman playing guitar
Catharina Ykens (Southern Netherlands)
Potrait of a woman playing guitar, surrounded by a garland of flowers and fruit
Signed lower middle: catarina ijkens. Fecit
Current whereabouts unknown (Sotheby’s, London, 27 May 2021, lot nr. 37)
The organizers of the exhibition are most grateful for any information regarding the whereabouts of (any of) the works discussed above. If you know of the location of any of these works, please contact the curators of the exhibition, Virginia Treanor (vtreanor@nmwa.org) and Frederica Van Dam (frederica.vandam@stad.gent).