This symposium at the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam will mark the culmination of four years of research by The Female Impact project. This event will showcase new research results, featuring presentations by the project members and guest speakers.
The Female Impact project contributes to the growing body of scholarship by demonstrating that women influenced all facets and stages of art production and consumption in the Northern Netherlands. Beyond creating art, women managed sales within client networks, oversaw workshop productivity, and handled financial and legal matters. Women also traded in art, sold artists’ materials, and contributed to the family economy in myriad ways they found both profitable and fulfilling. On the buyer’s side, both newly discovered and previously known documents prove that women, aristocratic and non-aristocratic alike, selected art and artists, judged commissioned works, negotiated prices, had paintings repaired, and bequeathed them to future generations. Women also oversaw building projects, demonstrating their influence beyond art collection alone. Together, our research reexamines the household as a site of agency, power, and self-actualization—both in the art market and beyond. By looking at these overlooked dynamics, we have uncovered insights that apply equally to men’s roles in art production and consumption in the Dutch Republic.
For more information, please see www.thefemaleimpact.org.