Early Modern Women in the Low Countries: Feminizing Sources and Interpretations of the Past (Women and Gender in the Early Modern World)

262 Pages·2011·5.234 MB·English

by  Susan Broomhall, Jennifer Spinks

Early Modern Women
in the Low Countries
Feminizing Sources and Interpretations of the Past
Susan Broomhall
and
Jennifer Spinks
EARLY MODERN WOMEN
IN THE LOW COUNTRIES
Women and Gender in the
Early Modern World
Series Editors:
Allyson Poska, The University of Mary Washington, USA
Abby Zanger
The study of women and gender offers some of the most vital and innovative
challenges to current scholarship on the early modern period. For more than a
decade now, Women and Gender in the Early Modern World has served as a forum
for presenting fresh ideas and original approaches to the field. Interdisciplinary
and multidisciplinary in scope, this Ashgate book series strives to reach beyond
geographical limitations to explore the experiences of early modern women and
the nature of gender in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. We welcome
proposals for both single-author volumes and edited collections which expand and
develop this continually evolving field of study.
Titles in the series include:
Henrietta Maria
Piety, Politics and Patronage
Edited by Erin Griffey
Women and Portraits in Early Modern Europe
Gender, Agency, Identity
Edited by Andrea Pearson
Envisioning Gender in Burgundian Devotional Art, 1350–1530
Experience, Authority, Resistance
Andrea Pearson
Women, Identities and Communities in Early Modern Europe
Edited by Stephanie Tarbin and Susan Broomhall
Widowhood and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe
Edited by Allison Levy
Early Modern Women
in the Low Countries
Feminizing Sources and Interpretations of the Past
SUSAN BROOMHALL
The University of Western Australia
and
JENNIFER SPINKS
The University of Melbourne
First published 2011 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © Susan Broomhall and Jennifer Spinks 2011
Susan Broomhall and Jennifer Spinks have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Broomhall, Susan.
Early modern women in the Low Countries: feminizing sources and interpretations
of the past. – (Women and gender in the early modern world)
1. Women – Netherlands – Social conditions – 16th century – Sources. 2. Women –
Netherlands – Social conditions – 17th century – Sources. 3. Women – Belgium – Social
conditions – 16th century – Sources. 4. Women – Belgium – Social conditions – 17th
century – Sources.
I. Title II. Series III. Spinks, Jennifer.
305.4’09492’0903-dc22
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Broomhall, Susan.
Early modern women in the low countries: feminizing sources and interpretations of the
past / by Susan Broomhall and Jennifer Spinks.
p. cm. — (Women and gender in the early modern world)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-7546-6742-1 (hardback: alk. paper)
1. Women—Low counties—Social conditions. 2. Women—Low countries—History.
I. Spinks, Jennifer. II. Title.
HQ1149.B425B76 2010
305.409492’0903—dc22
2010037647
ISBN: 978-0-754-66742-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-57851-4 (ebk)
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
1 Writing Elite Women into the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands 17
2 Visualizing Women’s Work in the Textile Trades at the Dawn of the
Golden Age 45
3 Memorializing Grief in Familial and National Narratives of
Dutch Identity 73
4 Imagining Domesticity in Early Modern Dutch Dolls’ Houses 99
5 The Rembrandt House and the Rubens House: Encountering Early
Modern Women through Heritage Sites 123
6 Sources and Settings: The Uses of Place for Tourism, Heritage,
and History 149
7 Purchasing the Past: Gender and the Consumption of Heritage 171
Conclusion: From Yesterday to Tomorrow: Seeing and Hearing Women
in the Low Countries 195
Works Cited 199
Index 233
This page has been left blank intentionally
List of Illustrations
I.1 Exterior of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, showing (to the left)
Cesar Boetius van Everdingen, A young woman warming her hands
over a brazier (allegory of winter), painting, c. 1650. Photo courtesy
of Jennifer Spinks. 2
1.1 Tomb of Margaret of Austria, Royal Monastery of Brou,
Bourg-en-Bresse. Photo courtesy of Alastair N. Ross. 36
1.2 Hans Memling, Triptych of William Moreel (and his wife
Barbara van Vlaenderberch), Altarpiece for the altar of Saints
Maurus and Giles in the Church of Saint James in Bruges, 1484.
Groeningemuseum, Stedelijke Musea Brugge © Lukas –
Art in Flanders VZW. 40
1.3 Master of the Holy Blood, Triptych of Jossine Lamsins, Joachim
Christiaens, and their patron saints, surrounding a central panel
depicting the Virgin with Child and Saints Catherine and Barbara,
c. 1520–25. Groeningemuseum, Stedelijke Musea Brugge
© Lukas – Art in Flanders VZW. 42
2.1. Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, Het spinnen, het scheren van de
ketting en het weven, painting, 1594–96, Stedelijk Museum
De Lakenhal, Leiden, inventory number S 421. Photo courtesy
of the collection Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden,
the Netherlands. 48
2.2. Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, Het ploten en kammen, painting,
1594–96, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, inventory
number S 420. Photo courtesy of the collection Stedelijk Museum De
Lakenhal, Leiden, the Netherlands. 55
2.3. Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, Het vollen en verven, painting,
1594–96, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, inventory number
S 422. Photo courtesy of the collection Stedelijk Museum
De Lakenhal, Leiden, the Netherlands. 57
2.4. Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, Het wassen van de vachten en het
sorten van de vol, painting, 1607–12, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal,
Leiden, inventory number S 419. Photo courtesy of the collection
Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, the Netherlands. 59
viii Early Modern Women in the Low Countries
2.5. Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, De Stedemaagd tussen de Oude en de
Nieuwe Neringhe, painting, 1596–1601, Stedelijk Museum De
Lakenhal, Leiden, inventory number S 423. Photo courtesy of the
collection Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden,
the Netherlands. 60
2.6. Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, Het verlenen van de keuren aan de
Neringhe, painting, 1596–1601, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal,
Leiden, inventory number S 424. Photo courtesy of the collection
Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, the Netherlands. 61
2.7 Historical wall panel incorporating the central figures from Isaac
Claesz. van Swanenburg, Het spinnen, het scheren van de ketting en
het weven (detail), Marktsteeg, Leiden, collection Stedelijk Museum
De Lakenhal, Leiden, the Netherlands. Photo courtesy of Jennifer
Spinks. 71
3.1 Willem Jacobsz. Delff after Michiel Jansz. Mierevelt, Portrait of
Louise de Coligny, engraving, 1627, Department of Prints and
Drawings, the British Museum, inventory number AN227468001.
© Trustees of the British Museum. 85
3.2 Bloodied linen shirt probably worn by Hendrick Casimir I of
Nassau-Dietz, stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe,
when he was mortally shot at the siege of Hulst, 1640, Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam, inventory number NG-NM-1104. Photo courtesy of the
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 89
3.3 Dirck van Delen, A family beside the tomb of Willem I in the Nieuwe
Kerk, Delft, 1645, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inventory number
SK-A-2352. Photo courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 91
3.4 Römer with the arms and motto of Prince Maurice, glass, 1606,
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inventory number BK-NM-697. Photo
courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 93
3.5 Gillis van Scheyndel, Funeral Procession of Prince Maurice at Grote
Markt in Delft, engraving (detail of lower left hand panel), 1625,
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inventory number RP-P-OB-15.078.
Photo courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 94
3.6 Cornelis van Dalen after Adriaen van de Venne, Departure from this
life of His Royal Highness Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange etc.
anno 1647, engraving, 1647, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inventory
number RP-P-OB-76.483. Photo courtesy of the Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam. 97
List of Illustrations ix
4.1 The Dolls’ House of Petronella Dunois, c. 1676, Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam, inventory number BK-14656. Photo courtesy of the
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 100
4.2 The Dolls’ House of Petronella Oortman, c. 1685–1705,
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inventory number BK-NM-1010. Photo
courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 101
4.3 Jacob Appel, The doll’s house of Petronella Oortman, painting,
c. 1710, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inventory number SK-A-4245.
Photo courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 113
5.1 Rubens House, Antwerp, with the original Flemish section to the left,
the Italianate addition to the right, and the gift shop in the foreground.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Spinks. 127
5.2 Rembrandt House, Amsterdam. Photo courtesy of the Rembrandt
House Museum, Amsterdam. 128
5.3 Peter Paul Rubens, Rubens in his garden with Helena Fourment
(Helena Fourment with her son Nicholas), painting, c. 1631,
Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen – Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
Photo courtesy of the bpk / Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. 135
5.4 Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-portrait with Saskia (The prodigal son), oil
on linen, c. 1635, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden. Photo
courtesy of the bpk / Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden /
Hans-Peter Klut. 136
5.5 Frans Harrewyn after Jacques van Croes, View of Rubens’s House in
Antwerp in 1692 (‘Parties de la Maison Hilwerue a Anvers’),
engraving, eighteenth century, Department of Prints and Drawings,
the British Museum, inventory number AN470263001. © Trustees
of the British Museum. 138
5.6 Entrance Hall (with a wooden cupboard similar to that owned by
Hendrickje Stoffels), Rembrandt House. Photo courtesy of the
Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam. 142
5.7 Kitchen (with a bed for the maid), Rembrandt House. Photo courtesy
of the Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam. 143
5.8 Rembrandt van Rijn, Saskia with pearls in her hair, 1634, engraving,
Department of Prints and Drawings, the British Museum, inventory
number AN22202001. © Trustees of the British Museum. 144