Penseelstreken van zeventiende-eeuwse vrouwen: Nederlandse en Vlaamse schilderessen in de 17e eeuw. Sociale en institutionele beperkingen voor een eigen artistieke identiteit. Thema’s en stijlen als vorm van verzet?

Details

Supervisors

Sergier, Matthieu

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en langues et lettres modernes, orientation germaniques, à finalité spécialisée: langues des affaires

Abstract

enIn the seventeenth century, female painters faced in what is now known as Belgium and the Netherlands numerous social and institutional restrictions: limited access to training, no access to the nude model, and the implicit expectation that they should focus on genres such as still life. Nevertheless, some women succeeded in establishing themselves as artists within this male-dominated world. This thesis examines how three female painters, Clara Peeters (c. 1590–after 1639), Judith Leyster (1609–1660), and Michaelina Wautier (1604–1689), dealt with these limitations and to what extent their themes and styles reflect them. Through an analysis of selected paintings, combined with historical contextualisation and a theoretical framework, this research demonstrates that seventeenth-century society did not explicitly prevent women from painting, but nevertheless imposed structural limitations on them. The results show that these three women did not openly rebel against the norms of their time but instead created space for themselves as female artists through subtle and diverse strategies.