The exhibition devoted to one of Europe’s earliest female painters will open in Spring 2027.
Portrait of a Woman, 1551. The National Gallery. Presented by Mrs D.E. Knollys, 1934
Photo © The National Gallery, London
The National Gallery has announced 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.
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 also the earliest European female painter whose works can be identified without doubt because she signed them.
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.
Dr Christine Seidel, Curator of Catharina van Hemessen, says:’Catharina van Hemessen’s significant beginnings in Antwerp, the most prolific centre of artistic production in northern Europe in the 16th century, secured her rank among the best-known women painters of the early modern period.’