The 17th-century Flemish painter Michaelina Wautier (circa 1614–1689) was one of the greatest baroque artists, but her work fell into obscurity for centuries after her death. Surviving artworks were often misattributed to other artists, including Anthony van Dyck, Rubens’s pupils, and her artist brother, Charles Wautier (1609–1703). The tide began to turn at the end of the 20th century when new scholarship uncovered her oeuvre.
A 2018 monographic exhibition in Antwerp introduced her art to the public for the first time. Cited as the “most exciting rediscovery of the past decade in art history,” Wautier is now the subject of a landmark exhibition at Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum.
