Michaelina Wautier

Discover the technical brilliance and intellectual daring of this Baroque painter whose artistry defied convention and expectation. Little is known about the early life of the Flemish Baroque painter Michaelina Wautier (1604-1689). She was born to an upper-class family in Mons, in present-day Belgium, and her complex, diverse body of work suggests a certain level of education and exposure to various artistic traditions. In the early 1640s she relocated to Brussels, following her elder brother, Charles, who was also an artist. There, the siblings lived together, sharing both a home and studio, and embarked on their respective careers. Wautier's catalogue includes a variety of subjects, from portraits and flower garlands to genre scenes and history paintings. Her talent was so impressive that four of her pieces found their way into the holdings of famed art collector Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. In this volume, author Katlijne Van der Stighelen explores the artistic culture of seventeenth-century Brussels and Antwerp to examine the forces and individuals that would have impacted Wautier. The wide variety of works that she left behind, including her exceptional painting The Triumph of Bacchus, demonstrates her advanced technical dexterity and highly individual iconographic choices. Michaelina Wautier explores the technical brilliance and intellectual audacity of a painter who is just beginning to be given her due.