Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum is hosting the first major exhibition of 17th-century painter Michaelina Wautier.
Virtually unknown today, Wautier painted across genres, including portraiture, still life, and even historical scenes, which usually required the study of live models, a practice women were banned from. The exhibition includes 29 paintings, including Triumph of Bacchus, which was collected by the Habsburg Archduke Leopold of Austria; Leopold may also have commissioned Wautier’s portrait of the Italian Jesuit Martino Martini, who published the first atlas of China, in traditional Chinese garb.
Almost nothing is known of Wautier’s life. “Her career reminds us how easily even brilliant artists can disappear from the historical record,” the museum’s director general told Artnet News.