RKD STUDIES

Of the dataset of 838 artists who travelled to Britain, only 18 were women, 2.15%. This low percentage corresponds to the average number of female Northern and Southern Netherlandish artists in the database,¹ but their numbers are slowly increasing as research intensifies. There is reason to believe that female artists were less mobile than their male counterparts, but this is not evident from this percentage.² Women generally travelled in a family context, in the company of a father, husband or brother. Indeed, most of the 18 women who travelled to (or from) Britain were daughters, wives or sisters of male artists (or all three). A number of women artists were attached to the British court. What is known about their migration and their work created in this context is described chronologically below.

Susanna Horenbout (c. 1503-1545/54) from Ghent was the daughter of Gerard Horenbout (c. 1565-1540/1) and younger sister of Lucas Horenbout (c. 1490/5-1544). The family emigrated to England between January 1522 and September 1525, where all three gained positions at the court of Henry VIII (1491-1547). It has been suggested that it was Susanna who was invited by the English king and that she was possibly the first of the family to cross the North Sea, perhaps in 1522, but it is more likely she came to Britain jointly with her brother or father, or both.³ It was not unusual among migrating families for there to be a few more trips back and forth at the beginning to settle and rig things, but this is more likely to have been done by male relatives than by the young, still unmarried Susanna. She would later travel to the continent once more, just after her second marriage, at the king's request. She was part of the delegation travelling to Düren (North Rhine-Westphalia) in 1539 to collect Henry VIII's forthcoming fourth wife, Anna of Cleves (1515-1557), for which Susanna was handsomely paid. The journey lasted three months and was presumably not uncomfortable; along the way she had five servants of her own. ⁴ The route went across the Channel to Calais and then to Düren via Ghent and Brussels. Susanna always remained active as an artist, but no works can be attributed to her with certainty.

Of the painter Katherine Maynour from Antwerp (was her surname perhaps Meunier?), we know no more than that she was naturalised as a widow on 11 September 1540.⁵ Perhaps her husband had also been a painter. Like Susanna Horenbout, Livinia Bening (Teerlinc) (c. 1515-1576) from Bruges was the daughter of an artist; her father was the miniaturist and book illuminator Simon Bening (c. 1483/4-1561). Together with her husband, Joris Teerlinc from Blankenberge, she moved to Britain, where her husband got a position at court as ‘gentleman/pensioner of the Royal household’. Livinia soon joined the court as a painter and lady-in-waiting as well: in November 1546, Livinia received an annuity of £40 from the court, which she would receive annually until her death. Several works by her hand have been documented; however, the descriptions cannot be properly related to existing works, although attempts at attributions have been made [6].⁶ A reference to the artist and ‘Staatsjuffer’ (lady-in-waiting) Paulina van den Honig (active c. 1570-1576) appears on a drawn copy after a work by her, showing Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) receiving the Dutch ambassador in Richmond [7], an event that must have taken place in the 1570s. Thanks to the inscriptions on this drawing, which was in the possession of collector and artists’ biographer Christiaan Kramm (1797-1875) in the 19th century, we know her name.⁷

When the troops of Allessandro Farnese (1545-1592) occupied Ghent in 1583, the Protestant calligrapher Jacomina Hondius (1558-1628) fled to London, along with her brother Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612), who was an engraver and cartographer and with whom she collaborated. In London, her work would have been admired by Queen Elizabeth. In London, brother and sister both married someone from Ghent: Jacomina to the writer Pieter van den Berghe (c. 1650-1625 and Jodocus to Colette, sister of the print and globe maker Pieter van der Keere (1571-1646). Around 1593, they decided to expand their business further in the Republic, from where the English market was also served.

Miniature painter Susanna Droeshout (1584-1664) was born in London; her parents came from Antwerp. Unknown is by whom she was trained; unclear is whether there was any family relationship to Southern Netherlandish artists of the same surname who had fled to London. After an earlier marriage to the otherwise unknown Joos de Neve, she remarried in 1628 to Daniel Mijtens (c. 1590-1647), who by then had been a court painter for ten years. The family settled permanently in The Hague in 1634, but the move had already begun in 1630. Before her husband came over permanently, Susanna travelled to The Hague on 11 May 1631 from London with her three children and two servants, 'with her trunks of apparel'.⁸ Nothing is known about any work Susanna made, either in London or The Hague.

6
attributed to Lavina Teerlinc
Portrait of Lady Katherine Grey (1540-1568), c. 1555-1560
London (England), Victoria and Albert Museum, inv./cat.nr. P.10&A-1979;

7
Jan Berents after Paulina van den Honig
Queen Elizabeth receiving the Dutch Ambassador at Richmond
London (England), British Museum, inv./cat.nr. 1878.7.13.1242

Susanna van Steenwijck (born Gaspoel) (1602/10-1664) was also possibly born in London, the child of a Leuven family. In London, she took painting lessons from Hendrick van Steenwijck II (1580-1640 , whom she must have married in or before 1629. Because she consistently signed with her married name, it is also the preferred name in RKDartists. Dating from 1629 is a panel monogrammed by her, of which it is uncertain whether it was painted in London or in Amsterdam [8]. In any case, the couple had left England before 16 November 1632, when their son Hendrick was baptised in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam.⁹ Of the painter Maria van Leemput, daughter of Remee van Leemput (1607-1675) and Anna Maria van Geldrop, we do not know whether she was born London or in the Netherlands. She would marry Thomas Streeter, a son of the British Robert Streeter (1621-1679), Serjeant-Painter of King Charles II. No work by her is known.

Catharina van Valkenburg (1626-1666) was the daughter of a silk merchant; with her parents, she moved to England at some point before 1653. There she married the flower painter Isaack Dusart (1628-1699), with whom she returned to the Dutch Republic before 1660. Artists’ biographer Arnold Houbraken (1660-1719) wrote that Isaack had learned in England to paint flowers on satin ('so naturally that they seemed to be living flowers') and that, in addition to this skill, he brought with him a wife (=Catharina van Valkenburg) 'who also mastered the art and who helped him paint flowers on satin'.¹⁰ Did Dusart learn the technique Houbraken describes from his wife? The paintings the couple must have produced were probably fragile; no works are known so far.

The Amsterdam papercut artist Dyna der Kinderen (1654-after 1677) married Thomas Gerrards, a middleman from Norwich, on 19 November 1677, with whom she went to live in England. It is not known whether she remained active as a papercut artist there. In the same year 1677, a 'Mrs. Palingh' is recorded in the attestations of the Dutch Church in London.¹¹ Although the name of her husband, the painter Isaac Paling (1634-1728) is not mentioned here, it must concern the pastellist Susanna Paling (1654-after 1707). She was possibly temporarily back in The Hague in 1681, where her husband is documented in that year. In 1682, the couple settled in London, where they became members of the Dutch Church.¹² Both lived and worked in England until 1703, after which they returned to The Hague. Several pastels have survived from her English period [9-10].¹³

In 1686 or shortly afterwards, the Antwerp-born Katharina de Ryck (1671/77-after 1699) left for London with her father, the goldsmith and painter Willem de Ryck (1645-1699) who was mainly active there as a painter and had a high output.¹⁴ Horace Walpole wrote that when father William died, he left behind a daughter 'whom he had brought up to his art'.¹⁵ It seems plausible that Katharina assisted her father to realise this production.

Maria van Oosterwijck (1630-1692) did not come from a family of artists and remained unmarried. Entirely independently, she travelled back and forth to England in 1687, we know from the diary of Nicodemus Tessin II (1654-1728). In that year, the latter visited Melchior d'Hondecoeter (c. 1636-1695) in Amsterdam, who owned a flower piece by the paintress. When Tessin expressed his admiration, Hondecoeter told him that Maria had just gone to London.¹⁶ Maria's trip to England was presumably related to the two paintings by her hand in the Royal Collection [11-12]. According to Houbraken, she received 900 guilders from William & Mary for a painting the couple bought from her.¹⁷

8
Susanna van Steenwijck
View in the nave of a Gothic church, dated 1629
Private collection

9
attributed to Susanna Paling
Portrait of Sir Pury Cust (1655-1698/9), probably 1690s
Grantham (England), Belton House, inv./cat.nr. NT 436052.1

10
attributed to Susanna Paling
Portrait of Alice Savile, Lady Cust (1666/7-1712), probably 1690s
Grantham (England), Belton House, inv./cat.nr. NT 436052.2

The portrait paintress Margareta Huyssen (1667-1693) married Henry Cornewall of Bredwardine (born 1655) in 1683, who was then master of the horse to King-Stadholder William III (whom he later opposed). In 1688, the family moved to London, where Margaret died young and was buried in the Dutch Church. Some portraits are known from her Dutch period [13], but since she also painted in The Hague after her marriage, it is quite possible that she will also have made work in London.¹⁸

All six children of marine painter Willem van de Velde II (1633-1707) were born in Amsterdam before he settled in England around the Year of Disaster with his father, Willem van de Velde I (c.1610/1-1693), and the rest of the family. Of his three daughters, it was assumed that Sara van de Velde (1671-na 1712) painted, although there is no evidence of this. In his publication on the family business of the Van de Veldes, Remmelt Daalder writes that at least one of Sara's sisters, Maria (born 1658) or Judickje (born 1663), did paint: Sara inherited from her husband in 1708 a 'fruit peece that my wife's sister copied’.¹⁹ Around 1721/2, the Amsterdam painting family of Herman van der Mijn (1684-1741) settled in London. Two female relatives were active there in full and under their own names: Herman's sister Agatha van der Mijn (1700-after 1776) and his daughter Cornelia van der Mijn (1709-1772). In 1727, the artists’ biographer Jan van Gool (1785-1763) visited the family in London. He wrote: ‘Cornelia van der Mijn […] is ene kunstrijke schilderesse in portretten en bloemen; zij oefent de kunst met roem te Londen, en heeft veel te doen’ (in translation: 'Cornelia van der Mijn [...] is an artful painter in portraits and flowers; she practices the art with fame in London, and has much to do').²⁰ Several works by Agatha and Cornelia have survived [14-16]. Since all family members were engaged in the same genres of painting, it is quite possible that more works by Agatha and Cornelia are hidden under names of their male relatives.²¹

13
Margareta Huyssen
Portrait of a lady on a terrace, dated 1685