Caterina van Hemessen - Self-portrait

• Title: Self-portrait (Selbstbildnis)
• Artist: Caterina van Hemessen (1527-1560)
• Date: 1548
• Medium: Tempera on oak wood
• Dimensions: 32 x 25 cm

Catharina van Hemessen is the earliest female Flemish painter for whom there is verifiable extant work. She is mainly known for a series of small-scale female portraits completed between the late 1540s and early 1550s and a few religious compositions.

This "Self-portrait" of 1548 is the first known self-portrait of an artist depicted seated at an easel.

Catharina van Hemessen was a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp which was the rare at the time for women, particularly because the system of apprenticeship meant that the aspiring artist would need to live for 4 to 5 years with a recognized master, typically older and male, often beginning in their early teens. This promiscuity meant that women would need to find a close relative to train them; for Catharina it was her dad.