A Shift in Perspective. Critically Rethinking Women Artists’ Biography in the Early Modern Period.

This expert meeting, which can only be attended online via Teams using the link above, is organised by Romy Kerkhof (Rijksmuseum) and brings together scholars, museum professionals, and digital humanities specialists to investigate how artist biographies shape our understanding of early modern women artists. Focusing on the unpublished manuscript Le Vite di Pittori (c. 1719–1742) by Francesco Maria Niccolò Gabburri as a key case study, participants will explore the production, transmission, and interpretation of biographical knowledge across geographical, linguistic, and cultural boundaries. Through research papers and collaborative discussions, the meeting also examines how digital infrastructures can support transnational research and advance future scholarship on women artists and their life writing.
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PROGRAMME

Friday, 18 September 2026

10:00
Welcome by Dr. Gert-Jan van der Sman,
Researcher and head of the library at the NIKI

10:05
Welcome by Romy Kerkhof,
Organizer of the Expert meeting

SESSION I
Gabburri as art collector and writer

10:15
Presentation 1: Romy Kerkhof (scholarship recipient NIKI),
‘Jacob Weyermann’s ‘virtuous’ Dutch and Flemish women painters in
Francesco Maria Niccolo Gabburri’s unpublished manuscript ‘Le Vite di Pittore’ (c.1719-1742)

10:35
Presentation 2: Jessica van den Berg (independent scholar),
‘Network analysis as a tool for rethinking biographies of women artists in the seventeenth century: the case of Maria van Oosterwijck’

11:00
Discussion, moderated by Laurien van der Werff

SESSION II
Case studies

11:10
Presentation 3: Dr. Ilaria Arcangeli (Assistant Curator, Museum
of Rome), ‘Tracing Women Painters in Seventeenth-Century Rome:
Reading Artistic Literature alongside Archival Sources’

11:30
Presentation 4: Jane Adams (Founder Artemisia Gold Inc.),
‘Investigating Artemisia in the Spada Gallery’

11:45
Presentation 5: Dr. Nora Gietz (independent scholar), ‘Save Venice’s
Women Artists of Venice Program. The Case Study of Giulia Lama
(1681-1747)’

12:05
Discussion, moderated by Romy Kerkhof

12:15
Lunch break

SESSION III
Feminist scholarship and digital imprint

13:30
Presentation 6: Camille Morineau (Founder AWARE),
‘Creating and sustaining a Successful Database on Women Artists’ Biographies’

13:50
Presentation 7: Prof. Dr. Jessica Enoch (professor University of
Maryland)

14:10
Discussion, moderated by Laurien van der Werff

SESSION IV
Critically rethinking the canon

14:20
Presentation 8: Dr. Sheila Barker (Medici Archives Project)

14:40
Presentation 9: Dr. Paris Spies-Gans (author, art historian),
‘How Can We Even the Playing Field? The Challenges of Integrating
Women into Art History’

15:10
End of the programme available for online attendance