Michaelina Wautier

Much of the work tracking and attributing her paintings has been done by the Belgian art historian Katlijne Van der Stighelen. Wautier was noted for the variety of subjects and genres that she worked in. This was unusual for female artists of the time who were more often restricted to smaller paintings, generally portraits or still-lifes.

The recorded working language is Dutch. The field of work recorded is painting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait, still life and religious. Places of work recorded in the authority are Brussels. Works named in the authority record are Two Girls as Saint Agnes and Saint Dorothea and Triumph of Bacchus. Work by Michaelina Wautier is recorded in the collections of Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Lázaro Galdiano Museum and Seattle Art Museum.

Born in around 1614 in Mons, Belgium, in the French-speaking region of Wallonia, Michelle Wautier (Michaelina was the Latinate version of the name adopted as her artist nom de plume) was one of two daughters in a family of nine children. Scholars assume that she came from a wealthy family, as her work shows an in-depth knowledge of classical mythology and symbolism. She appears to have begun her artistic career later in life, around the age of 39, however, her talent evidently did not long go unnoticed. Possibly as a result of her brother Charles’ contacts in the army as he had previously been an officer she was commissioned to do a portrait of the aristocratic general Andrea Cantelmo. That painting has since disappeared, but its existence is known through an engraving of it done by Paulus Pontius. Charles was also a painter, and the two moved to Brussels in 1645, where they both remained unmarried and shared a studio. After arriving in Brussels, they lived in a mansion near the Chapel Church in the Marolles district. Both Michaelina and Charles seemed to have been active in business, particularly in real estate. Both also were almost certainly well-trained in art, but it is not known where or with whom. Little else is known about Wautier's life, and much of her biographical information is based on scholarly conjecture and analysis of her available works.

Michaelina Wautier painted in small formats as well as more ambitious canvases with as main subjects history, religion and mythology. At the time, large format paintings were still considered a preserve of male painters. Wautier multiplied representations of genre scenes, historical paintings, as well as more detailed representations of flower garlands. Her works also include a series of portraits. She was distinguished from other painters by the diversity of her subjects and formats. Her first self-portrait, painted in 1649, was long mistakenly associated with the Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi. It remains one of Wautier's most famous paintings. The painting is attributed to Gentileschi in Walter Shaw Sparrow's 1905 book Women Painters of the World. It was not until 1672 that the painter Elisabeth-Sophie Chéron produced what is considered the first female self-portrait in France. The painting named The Triumph of Bacchus (1650, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna) is often cited as one of the most representative of her works. It was originally held in the collection of the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. Michaelina was familiar with masculine anatomy and painted it without shame, becoming one of the first female painters to expose a naked man. The artist depicted herself in the colourful crowd; she is the only character to look at the viewer. Further, the large scale of the painting was notable for a female artist of the time for, as McCouat says, "women were patronisingly regarded as not being capable of such large-scale complex works". Unlike many other women painters of this period, Wautier received recognition while alive. In particular, she sold four paintings to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria for his painting gallery. The paintings are mentioned in the inventory of the collection drawn up in 1659. However, her work fell into oblivion after her death. Some art historians link this absence to the attribution of her paintings to Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, Jacob van Oost or her brother Charles Wautier. Additionally, art scholar Katlijne van der Stighelen notes that there was a long period between her last painting (believed to be in 1659) and her death in 1689, at the age of around 75, during which she was not producing paintings or staying in the public eye. Further, unlike some of her female contemporaries, including the Italians Gentileschi and Elisabetta Sirani, her self-portrait was never issued as a print to perpetuate her memory. In fact, eventually that self-portrait itself was later attributed to Gentileschi.

From June to September 2018, the first complete retrospective on Michaelina Wautier was shown at the Museum aan de Stroom in Antwerp (MAS) (which organised the exhibition along with the Rubenshuis). It was curated by the art historian Katlijne Van der Stighelen. Another retrospective, Michaelina Wautier, Painter, was organized by the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, in cooperation with the Royal Academy of Arts, London. The exhibition was displayed at the Kunsthistorisches Museum 30 September 2025 – 22 February 2026 and at the Royal Academy of Arts 27 March – 21 June 2026. A catalog accompanied the exhibit ISBN 978-1915815200.