Published to coincide with the exhibition of the same name at the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium, this beautifully illustrated tome showcases a broad range of work by over 40 Dutch and Flemish women artists through an array of paintings, lace, prints, paper cuttings, embroidery and sculpture, demonstrating that a full view of women’s contributions is essential to understanding Dutch and Flemish visual culture of the period.

Women were involved in virtually every aspect of artistic production in the Low Countries during the 17th and early 18th centuries, when colonial exploitation and the international slave trade enriched Europe’s upper and middle classes and fuelled demand for art and other luxuries. 

From celebrated painters who excelled in a male-dominated field to unsung women who toiled making some of the most expensive lace of the day to wealthy patrons who shaped collecting practices, women created the very fabric of the visual culture of the era and contributed to the booming artistic economy of the day.