‘Old masters too’: Ghent exhibition celebrates female artists of the baroque
Why it matters: Re‑centering women reshapes art history and reveals hidden cultural value.
- Judith Leyster – her 1630 self‑portrait, once misattributed to a husband or unknown master, now anchors the show and illustrates how women were erased from art history.
- Unforgettable exhibition – co‑curated by Frederica Van Dam, displays works by 179 women from the Low Countries, asking why their art vanished from museums and textbooks.
- Maria van Oosterwijck – celebrated still‑life painter whose works adorned European palaces and who earned more than Rembrandt for a single commission, highlighting women’s commercial success.
- Johanna Koerten – paper‑cutting specialist visited by Peter the Great, whose lucrative commissions challenge the myth that only men thrived in the baroque market.
- Broader reassessment – part of a growing movement that re‑examines forgotten women artists from Artemisia Gentileschi to Marthe Donas, correcting 19th‑century gender biases.
The Ghent Museum’s ‘Unforgettable: Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600‑1750’ restores over 40 baroque female creators—like Judith Leyster and Maria van Oosterwijck—to the spotlight, confronting the long‑standing male‑centric narrative of the Dutch Golden Age. Curated by Frederica Van Dam, the exhibition argues that women were integral to the period’s artistic economy and deserve equal recognition.
