The first ever exhibition in the UK solely dedicated to the painter Catharina van Hemessen (1527/28 – after 1565) will open at the National Gallery in spring 2027. Catharina van Hemessen (4 March – 30 May 2027) will aim to bring together for the first time, from international collections, most of the signed paintings of this trailblazing artist.
Catharina van Hemessen (1528-1565), Portrait of a Woman, 1551
The National Gallery, London
Flemish Renaissance artist van Hemessen is the earliest European female painter whose works can be identified without doubt because she signed them. Known for her small-scale portraits of women completed between the late 1540s and early 1550s, van Hemessen is the earliest woman artist in the National Gallery’s collection. She is one of only four female painters mentioned by the influential art historians Vasari and Guicciardini as having worked in Antwerp in the 16th century, and the only one of them for whom an undisputable corpus of works can be established.
Catharina van Hemessen was the daughter of Jan Sanders van Hemessen (about 1500-after 1563), a prominent Mannerist painter in Antwerp who had studied Italian art. Her father is believed to have been her teacher, and she may have collaborated in his workshop.
Catharina van Hemessen is curated by Dr Christine Seidel, Associate Curator of Renaissance Painting at the National Gallery.
The exhibition organized by the National Gallery and the Museum Snijders&Rockoxhuis, Antwerp