Portret van een vrouw, mogelijk Mary Knatchbull c. 1680 - 1700

This portrait, possibly of Mary Knatchbull, was created as an engraving by an anonymous artist, though it was after a painting by Kneller. The image presents us with a set of questions about the place of women, and in particular elite women, in the political and social life of the Dutch Republic at this time. How were such women to be represented? What kind of virtues could they embody in pictorial form? We see in the formal qualities of this portrait the visual codes that signaled feminine virtue. This image is demure, it is modest, and it conforms to the expectations of the time, showing that there were limits placed on how women could participate in the cultural sphere. By consulting sources such as letters, diaries, and other archival documents, historians can shed light on the role of women in the art world.