Caterina van Hemessen and How a 16th-century woman from Antwerp pioneered the self-portrait and trained a new generation of artists

1. Introduction: Why Don’t We Hear More About Caterina van Hemessen?

When we think of Renaissance Flanders, the names of Jan van Eyck, Pieter Bruegel, or Rogier van der Weyden usually come to mind. But one name, though quietly powerful, is often left out: Caterina van Hemessen (1528–after 1587). A talented painter from Antwerp, she holds the distinction of creating the earliest known self-portrait of an artist at the easel, and she was a woman.

Caterina’s legacy was long forgotten, partly due to her gender and partly due to the patriarchal structures of art history that preserved male names while erasing female contributions. But Caterina van Hemessen deserves renewed attention for not only her artistic skill but also for her trailblazing role in defining the genre of self-portraiture and training future artists in the Low Countries.

2. Early Life and Education

Caterina van Hemessen was born in Antwerp in 1528, into an artistic family. Her father, Jan Sanders van Hemessen, was a prominent Mannerist painter, known for religious scenes and moralistic genre paintings. Jan was also her first teacher, and he gave his daughter something very few women of her time received: a formal education in painting.

Details about her mother and siblings are scarce, though records suggest Caterina may have had a sister. Her family moved in circles close to the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke, where her father was active.

In the 1540s, Caterina was producing accomplished portraits of the city’s wealthy citizens. She joined the Guild of Saint Luke in 1548, a significant achievement at a time when few women could even access professional art training. Around this time, she gained the patronage of Mary of Hungary, the sister of Emperor Charles V and governor of the Habsburg Netherlands—a powerful ally who helped launch Caterina’s court career.

3. Style and Artistic Contributions

Caterina specialized in small-scale, highly detailed portraits, often of women, that conveyed a quiet dignity and introspective realism. Her style was influenced by her father’s Mannerist compositions, but brought a feminine sensitivity to facial expression and fabric texture.

Key Characteristics:

• Careful attention to textile and costume detail
• Composed, introspective expressions
• Plain backgrounds to focus on the subject
• Symbolic objects suggesting literacy or piety

Notable Works:

• “Self-Portrait at the Easel” (1548) Kunstmuseum Basel

• “Portrait of a Woman” Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp

• “Portrait of a Lady” The National Gallery, London

Her “Self-Portrait at the Easel” is a landmark in Western art history; it is the first known depiction of an artist (of any gender) painting themselves at work. Her gaze is confident, steady, and calmly defiant, a woman painting herself into the historical record.

4. Struggles and Social Context

Despite her skill and court connections, Caterina’s career was limited by gender norms of the time. Female artists could not study anatomy, join large workshops freely, or accept commissions for public religious art.

After serving under Mary of Hungary until her death in 1558, Caterina appears to have withdrawn from public life. She married Christian de Morien, an organist, around that time, and moved to Spain, where Mary’s court had relocated. No known works survive from her time in Spain, and it’s believed she stopped painting professionally after marriage, a fate common for women artists of the era.

She died sometime after 1587, the last year in which she appears in historical records.

5. Legacy and Rediscovery

For centuries, Caterina van Hemessen’s legacy rested mostly in footnotes—mentioned as Tintoretto’s contemporary or as an artistic curiosity. But in the late 20th century, feminist art historians began to champion her place in the canon.

Her self-portrait was featured prominently in:

• “Women Artists: 1550–1950“ – curated by Ann Sutherland Harris and Linda Nochlin
• Exhibitions at the Kunstmuseum Basel and Uffizi Gallery’s Vasari Corridor, which now includes more female portraitists

Today, her “Self-Portrait at the Easel” is recognized as a revolutionary moment in art history. She is also cited as a pioneer of Northern Renaissance portraiture, alongside more famous male contemporaries.

6. Why She Matters Today

Caterina van Hemessen was a professional artist at a time when that identity was almost entirely closed to women. She claimed her space with brush and canvas, portraying herself not as a muse or saint, but as a working artist.

Her quiet assertion of agency speaks powerfully to today’s conversations around visibility, authorship, and representation in art. At a time when women continue to fight for equal footing in creative industries, Caterina’s story reminds us that the battle for recognition has deep roots.

7. Final Thoughts

Caterina van Hemessen was not just a daughter of a famous artist. She was a pioneer who painted with precision, poise, and purpose. Her self-portrait stands as an enduring declaration: I was here. I painted. I mattered.

Explore More:

• Kunstmuseum Basel – Public Domain Image of the Self-Portrait
• Linda Nochlin’s Essay: Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?

Call to Action: Share Caterina’s story, browse your nearest museum’s Northern Renaissance collection, and sign up for the next blog post in this series uncovering forgotten female artists at N1 Gallery.

Coming Next: Plautilla Nelli: Florence’s Forgotten Nun Painter.