VISSCHER, Anna Roemers

Dutch glass engraver, the eldest daughter of the Amsterdam merchant and poet Roemer Visscher, sister of Maria Tesselschade. The Visscher family ranked among the cultural elite of the day. Anna and her sisters were taught languages, embroidery, drawing and painting. Like other women in more cultivated circles, they were also accomplished calligraphers and glass engravers. She is particularly regarded for her diamond-point glass engraving. She must have engraved numerous glasses, however, only five signed examples have survived.

Additionally, Anna Roemers Visscher had an apparent interest in emblem books, as she translated into Dutch thirteen epigrams from Georgette de Montenay’s Emblèmes, ou devises chrestiennes of 1584. She also contributed poetry to the 1618 emblem book, Silenus Alcibiadis, Sive Proteus by Jacob Cats.