CATHARINA VAN HEMESSEN

The year is 1551. A talented young artist sits at the easel in her hometown of Antwerp, painting a small portrait with quiet power. After completing the work, she adds the words: ‘Catharina de Hemessen was painting [this] 1551’.

In a time when few women worked as artists, Catharina van Hemessen proudly painted her name onto her artworks. This remarkable detail allows us to identify her work as a painter over 450 years later. Today, van Hemessen is the only 16th-century Flemish woman painter who is known to have signed her paintings.

In March 2027, the National Gallery will host the first UK exhibition devoted to this pioneering painter. Through a collection of masterful small-scale paintings, the exhibition will show the defining moment a woman artist stepped into the spotlight.

Visit ’Catharina van Hemessen: Signature Works’ for free and uncover this pivotal chapter in the history of art.

Exhibition organised by the National Gallery and the Museum Snijders&Rockoxhuis, Antwerp.