Can you name five women artists from the Dutch Golden Age?

Joanna Koerten, Saint Anthony.

Sometimes called the “scissor-Minerva” (schaar-Minerve) of Amsterdam, Joanna Koerten worked in various mediums including embroidery, painting, lace-making, glass-etching, and wax-modeling. But, as the moniker would suggest, she achieved her greatest success in scissorwork. In these meticulously crafted scenes, Koerten created illusion through careful incisions in a single sheet of paper. Koerten’s intensive craftsmanship commanded both international renown and high prices; she sold her work to numerous royals, including the Queen of England.

Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, 1630.

Perhaps the best known of the artists in this slideshow, Judith Leyster was remarkably accomplished in her own period. As early as 1647, Theodorus Schrevelius wrote in his History of Haarlem that there were “famous female painters who could well compete with the men in the graphic arts, amongst them the admirable Judith Leyster.” Unusually for women in the period, Leyster painted genre scenes (in addition to still lifes and other compositions), and she achieved professional success in her lifetime through traditional channels. She became an independent master of the Saint Luke’s Guild of Haarlem, established her own workshop, and took on students.

Gesina ter Borch, Wandelend paar bij maanlicht, c. 1654 - 1659.

Gesina Ter Borch was a painter and draftsman raised in a family of artists, though she did not receive the same training or professional opportunities as her brothers. Her oeuvre can largely be found in a set of extraordinary albums that contain poetry, songs, watercolors, and drawings. These albums would have been viewed in private settings, which lends them a sense of intimacy and explains their varied, often innovative, subject matter. As recent research by Nicole Elizabeth Cook has revealed, Ter Borch often worked after dark, exploring the creative potential of nocturnal activity both in her own practice and in the images she depicted.

Fun fact: in addition to her own self-portraits, Gesina Ter Borch can be seen as a model in the works of her half-brother, Gerard Ter Borch the Younger. 
 

Geertruydt Roghman, A Young Woman Ruffling, Plate 2 from Five Feminine Occupations, c. 1640–57.

Very little is known about Roghman’s biography, and attributions of her work can be complicated. That said, we know that her series, Five Feminine Occupations, was both designed and engraved by Roghman for the art market. Although scholars have debated how much we can extrapolate from these images, the series does show us something about her style, influences, and period. The series, which depicts women completing domestic work, engages with contemporary conventions surrounding women laboring in the home and raises questions about feminine virtue, vanitas, and the moralizing tradition.  

Maria Sibylla Merian, Study of Capers, Gorse, and a Beetle, 1693.

Maria Sibylla Merian was both an artist and a naturalist. She was the daughter of an engraver, trained with her stepfather, and married an artist, but channeled her own artistic endeavors towards illustrating and documenting insects and their habitats. She observed insects from life, rather than from preserved specimens, collected new information about the life cycle, and dispelled previously-believed inaccuracies. In 1699, she even sailed with her daughter to Suriname, a Dutch colony in South America, in order to see specimens in their natural habitats. She collected her findings in a series of texts, including the acclaimed Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium published in 1705.

Clara Peeters, A Bouquet of Flowers, ca. 1612.

There is very little surviving information about Clara Peeters; it is unclear if she joined a guild, or if she trained with a master painter (though her technical skill implies that she did). But we do have her paintings, most of which are still lifes. Her compositions featured expensive objects such as exotic shells, gilt cups, or porcelain that showcased her talent in depicting different textures and forms. Her work is made more extraordinary for its attention to detail—a chip in the table, her signature engraved along the edge of a knife, or her self-portrait hidden-in-plain-sight as a reflection.