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WHO WAS ANNA MARIA VAN SCHURMAN?

 

In November 1607, Anna Maria van Shurman was born to two wealthy Dutch citizens living in Germany. When she departed the world a good 70 years later, she left behind a legacy of paintings, engravings and writings extraordinary enough to rival any Golden Age artist. At age eleven, she was reading Seneca in Latin and trading philosophical and theological observations with intellectuals at Leiden University. She earned the flattering moniker ‘The Star of Utrecht’ for being the first woman to attend university in the Netherlands (she sat behind a screen during lectures so male students didn’t feel uncomfortable). In 1643, the Dutch Painter’s Guild of St. Luke’s admitted her to their ranks as an honorary member - a huge distinction for a woman in the male-dominated European art world. By far, her biggest contribution was to the field of women’s education. Her treatise The Learned Maid advanced the Cartesian argument that girls deserved to be educated since they possessed ‘rational souls’ and should be allowed to learn science as well as the arts. Unusually for a woman of her status, and lacking no shortage suitors, she chose celibacy, informing her family and friends that she was already ‘married to her pen.’ After devoting the final years of her work to church reformation, Anna Maria van Shurman died in France, having lived a complex and extraordinary life. Since then, her name has been largely forgotten, except in the Netherlands where I discovered her during a research trip for my latest novel The Winter Dress. Split between contemporary and 17th century Holland, The Winter Dress is the story of a silk gown owned by a poor laundress, Anna Tesseljte who accepts a role as a ladies companion to the wealthy and temperamental artist Catharina van Shurman. Like the real Anna Maria van Shurman, Catharina is a woman of ahead of her time – an artist struggling for success and recognition in a patriarchal society designed to keep women in their place. Using the limited currency at her disposal, Catharina employs flattery to cultivate relationships with rich English patrons living in the Hague, such as Elisabeth Stuart, the exiled Winter Queen. She also gifts her work to the most powerful men at court in order to secure their support. This kind of subversive thinking is something I gifted Catharina after reading about the life of Anna Maria van Shurman in a book by Martine van Elk. Catharina van Shurman is a larger than life personality – a genius who struggles to reconcile her great talents and obsessions with the mundanity of everyday life. Anna’s softness tempers Catharina’s volatile nature and the two women develop a bond which unites them long after death. In the modern timeline, Jo Baaker, a textiles historian, investigates the link between Catharina and her companion, believing the silk dress to be the key to unlocking their story. I hope you enjoy reading my homage to Anna Maria van Shurman, a woman whose star burned so brightly, she deserves to be remembered.
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