Michaelina Wautier told by Katlijne Van der Stighelen (part 1) and Julien Domercq (part 2)

The Great Women Artists

Katy Hessel

Arts

4.8 • 944 Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2026

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I am so excited to say that my guests on the GWA Podcast are the esteemed scholar and curator, Katlijne Van der Stighelen, and Royal Acdemy senior curator, Julien Domercq! Part 1 – Katlijne Van der Stighelen Part 2 – Julien Domercq A professor at KU Leuven until 2024, who has published books on artist Anna Maria van Schurma, Katlijne is also a curator, having, in 1999, along with Mirjam Westen, curated the first ever exhibition on women artists in Belgium and the Netherlands. She is also the curator of Van Dyck l'Europeo: His Journey from Antwerp to Genoa and London', currently on view at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa. But, the reason why we are speaking with Katlijne today is because she has, according to some news outlets, made the greatest artistic discovery of the 21st century - and no, we are not talking about Banksy. It was digging around in a museum basement just over 30 years ago that Katlijne stumbled upon the extraordinary work of Michaelina Wautier, then a totally obscure name not even known to 17th century specialists, active in the mid-1600s and at famed for her colossal paintings of mythological scenes, smaller meticulously rendered, almost breathable garlands of dazzling flowers, and portraits of strong female saints and characters, not unlike her Roman contemporary, Artemisia Gentileschi. But clearly something got lost upon the way – because until Katlijne’s work, Wautier’s name had been merely a footnote in art history. But now, thanks to decades of her tireless work, she is righting that wrong with Wautier’s first ever exhibition in the UK - following critically acclaimed shows at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, MFA Boston, MAS-Museum in Antwerp, and more. Part one of this podcast will deep dive into this extraordinary artist – and story – and in the second half, we will walk around the exhibition with Royal Academy senior curator Julien Dormecq to transport you to London, and I can’t wait to find out more. ––– THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.famm.com/en/ https://www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Tory Peters Music by Ben Wetherfield

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to the Great Women Artists podcast. I'm very excited to bring you
0:06.6	today's episode, but just before we get to our sponsor, I am delighted to say that my new book,
0:11.7	The Story of Art Without Men, an illustrated guide to amazing women artists for younger readers,
0:17.8	or anyone, to be honest, is out now. You can buy it from your local bookshop
0:22.7	or wherever you get your books. And I'm thrilled to say that this series is supported by the
0:27.7	Levit Collection, a vast and varied art collection, and which in the last eight years has become
0:33.6	entirely focused on works by women artists. You can find much of this made up of
0:39.2	impressionists, surrealist, abstract expressionists, contemporary artists and more at FAM in Mujan in
0:45.6	France, the first museum in the world outside of the USA to have a permanent collection
0:50.9	dedicated to major female artists. It's spearheaded by Christian Levitt,
0:55.5	who has published three research books in this area. Located in the heart of the historic village
1:01.1	of Mujan Nican in the south of France, FAM features a stunning collection of nearly 100 works
1:07.0	by 90 internationally acclaimed and emerging female artists. The impressive exhibition of
1:12.5	paintings, sculptures and photographs from the Levitt Collection highlights the creative brilliance
1:17.6	of women who have played pivotal roles in shaping some of the major artistic movements,
1:22.7	from Impressionism to contemporary art. It's only 30 minutes away from Nice Airport,
1:29.0	and FAM, which stands for Female Art artists of the Mujan Museum, is open every day. And for further information and bookings,
1:35.3	please visit www.famfamfamphablem.com. I hope you enjoy this episode.
1:45.5	Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Great Women Artist podcast with me, Katie Hessel.
1:51.4	Some of you might know me from The Great Women Artists, an Instagram account I set up in October 2015,
1:57.2	which celebrates female artists on a daily basis, ranging from young graduates to old masters.
2:02.6	Well, in a similar fashion to the Instagram, this podcast is all about celebrating female artists from a variety of backgrounds and histories.
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