The National Gallery to host first UK exhibition of Flemish painter Catharina van Hemessen
The National Gallery will host the first ever UK exhibition dedicated solely to Catharina van Hemessen (1527/28 – after 1565), one of Europe’s earliest female painters, in 2027. Bringing together most of the signed works from international collections, the exhibition will offer a rare opportunity to explore the art of a trailblazing Flemish Renaissance painter whose small-scale portraits of women display both technical mastery and remarkable psychological depth. Van Hemessen is the earliest woman artist in the National Gallery’s collection and the only 16th-century Antwerp female painter whose work can be definitively attributed.
Catharina van Hemessen (1527/8 - after 1565). Portrait of a Woman, 1551, oil on wood, 22.8 × 17.6 cm. The National Gallery. Presented by Mrs D.E. Knollys, 1934. Photo © The National Gallery, London
Catharina van Hemessen trained in the workshop of her father, Jan Sanders van Hemessen, a prominent Mannerist painter in Antwerp. She may have collaborated with him in his studio, honing her craft in an environment renowned for artistic innovation. Praised by contemporaries including Vasari and Guicciardini, van Hemessen achieved recognition in her lifetime and even followed Mary of Hungary to Spain around 1556, where she continued her practice. Her signed works, largely portraits, reveal not only her skill but also her determination to assert herself in a male-dominated artistic world.
The exhibition is curated by Dr Christine Seidel, Associate Curator of Renaissance Painting at the National Gallery, and is part of a wider programme that includes Van Hemessen & Father: The Antwerp Workshop of Jan and Catharina van Hemessen at the Museum Snijders&Rockoxhuis in Antwerp. Together, these shows illuminate the creative legacy of the Van Hemessen family and shed light on Antwerp as a hub of Renaissance artistic innovation.
Date: 4 March – 30 May 2027. Location: The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN. Price: Free. nationalgallery.org.uk
