Van Hemessen & Father

Van Hemessen & Father brings a forgotten family of artistic pioneers back into the spotlight, rewriting the story of the Antwerp Renaissance from a surprising perspective: that of a painter's workshop where father and children worked together, experimented and left their mark on art history. This book serves as the catalogue accompanying the exhibition of the same name at the Snijders&Rockhoxhuis in Antwerp, organised in collaboration with the National Gallery, London, and the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle.

The focus is on daughter Catharina van Hemessen, the earliest female Renaissance painter from the Southern Netherlands of whom signed works have survived. She painted as a woman in a man's world, signed her work with self-assurance and garnered international admiration from art connoisseurs even in her own time. Her work bears witness to artistic finesse and intellectual independence. Her father, Jan van Hemessen, is regarded as a key figure in the artistic transition from Quinten Massijs to Pieter Bruegel the Elder.