Mysterious artist Michaelina Votier found a flesh

19 June 2018, 09:40 | Art
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Prof. Katleine van der Stichelen talks about her unique heroine and the first retrospective of an unknown artist of the 17th century in the MAS museum in Antwerp:.

One of the main events of the Baroque year in Antwerp was the exhibition "Michaelella" - the first retrospective of the Flemish painter Michaeline Vautier (1617-1689). In the XVII century, she was not afraid to contradict the canons of European baroque, for which influential collectors valued her no less than the male artists of that time. But the history of art has not retained her name, nor the pictures. Professor, an expert on the Flemish school of painting of the XVI-XVII centuries and curator of the House of Rubens Catleyne van der Stiegelen restores the life and creativity of Michael Vautier in bitterness. The results of her many years of work will be presented at the exhibition "Michaelella" in the MAS museum from June 2 to September 2, 2018.

How did you discover Michael Vauthier?.

Artists, women of the XVII century can be counted on the fingers. And it seemed that they were all long and well known. These are Louise Muayon, Artemisia Gentileski, Clara Peters, Maria van Osterwijk, Judith Leicester. With the creativity of Michael Vauthier, I met quite by accident. My specialization is the Flemish school of the 16th-17th centuries, and in the early 1990s I went to Vienna to the Museum of Art History to look at one painting by Anthony van Dyck. But she was not in the permanent exposition, and I asked to take me to the storerooms. And the first thing I saw there was a monumental canvas "Triumph of Bacchus". It struck me: both in scale and technique. I ask: who is the author? It turned out that a woman, about whom little is known, is called Michaelina Vautier. And I started looking: in archives, in libraries. It turned out that it is much more interesting than I could imagine. Several times I proposed to make its exhibition to different museums, but the directors refused, and they can be understood: an unknown artist is a risk. But I'm sure it's worth it. And I'm happy that MAS is ready to take this risk.

What brings her closer to the artists of the XVII century? And what is its dissimilarity?.

It is difficult to compare, but if we talk about Votya and Artemisia Gentileski, then their level of painting is technically comparable. However, the thematic coverage of Votya is much wider. Gentilesky well owned a brush - beautifully painted portraits and, for example, biblical scenes. Votya, in addition to portraits and historical subjects, was strong in genre painting and still life. Amaze the size of her paintings, uncharacteristic for artists of the time. It does not fit in the head, as a woman of the XVII century could write naked men in mythological scenes so naturalistic. There is almost no doubt that she had living models before her eyes. Even in the XIX century in the academies of Paris, London, Brussels did not cease the debate whether to allow students to draw a male body. And here is the XVII century! Gentilekski can also meet male bodies, but not in such a variety. Votya does not have any: blacks, young, old people! I think in many respects this was possible thanks to her brother Charles Vautier.

Who was her brother? What do you know about her life and work?.

Little. We know her paintings for the period from 1643 to 1659. This is about 30 works, and only half of them are signed and have a date, which makes attribution difficult. I was looking for information in the archives of the city of Mons, where she was born, and in Brussels, but in vain. I know for sure that she was on good terms with Leopold-Wilhelm of Austria, Archduke in Brussels and one of the largest collectors of the 17th century. In Vienna, he returned with his meeting and described it in detail. And in these archives the name of Michael Vautier appears. This is almost the main clue that helps restore her life and creativity. Now the works from his collection belong to the Vienna Museum of Art History, and they will be at the exhibition.

It is known that Michaelina came from a wealthy family, half aristocrats. I do not think that they encouraged her passion for painting. She was never married, like her brother Charles was not married. He was also an artist, and most likely his sister studied with him. They lived together and probably worked in the same workshop.

In addition to you, Votier's work seems to be of interest to major collectors both in Europe and in the US ... Yes, a couple of years ago, her two paintings were put up for auction in Zurich with an estimate of about € 20 thousand. , and sold them as a result for more than € 2 million. So the market boom, everyone is now trying to find Vauthier. We are also looking for, without losing hope of finding a series of paintings "The Five Senses" (1650). One black and white illustration appeared in the exhibition catalog in 1975, and nothing is known about the still-life with butterflies "Garland" since 1985.

In the art world, the female theme is again relevant today. Exhibitions of women artists - one of the main museum trends. Can we talk about the work of Votier as a feminist art?.

More likely, it can be called a proto-feminist. XVII century - a productive time for women artists and women writers. In France, England, the Netherlands, they talked a lot about the opportunities of women in society. Today, the debate about feminism is a knife-edge walk. The last ten years to declare about their feminist views was considered almost a bad form.

But, according to my feelings, a feminist wind blew about four years ago, there was an understanding that the struggle is not yet won, and these trends concern not only today's artists, but their female colleagues from the past. In 2016, I defended an hour in line to get to the exhibition Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun in the Grand Palace in Paris. When the exposition moved to New York, one of the newspapers wrote: "It is impossible to believe that the general public was discovered by this great artist just now! "I hope that Votya will have the same effect. I want to return her a place in the history of art of the XVII century, which she undeservedly lost.

Source: theartnewspaper.




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