Margareta Maria de Roodere and Her Parents

The social status of the painters in the Dutch Republic varied from day labourers through independent masters to well-rewarded court artists such as Michiel van Miereveld and Gerrit van Honthorst, who specialized in portraiture of high officials. In one such portrait, van Honthorst represented yet another type of painter: a well-to-do amateur who painted for pleasure. Several women became accomplished painters in this way. Most master was men, but more than a dozen women are recorded as having attained master’s status, most famously Judith Leyster (1609-1660).