17th Century Women

Welcome to my Picture Gallery of 17th Century Women (1600-1700) This site is permanently under construction. I need your help to track down additional pictures. If you are able to assist in any way, please email me at mamaes@ucalgary.ca In the meantime, enjoy! Table of Contents Why this Gallery? Acknowledgments Go Back to Homepage

Table of Contents as of January 23, 2009

<<< Click on the letter above the name >>>

A	B	C	D	E
Maria Jesus Agreda Duchess of Aiguillon Sophonisba Anguissola Anne of Austria Caroline Anspach Julie d'Argennes Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy (*)	Bahinabai Elizabeth Barry Mme de St. Baslemont de Neuville Mary Beale Aphra Behn Mme de St. Belmont (*) Marguerite Bourgeoys Anne Bradstreet Ebba Brahe Isabella Brant	Francesca Caccini Rosalba Carriera Elizabeth Cary Donna Catalina de Erauso Catherine of Braganza Margaret Cavendish Susanne Centlivre Jeanne de Chantal Henriette de Coligny E. L. Cornaro Piscopia Joanna Ines De La Cruz	Moll Davis Mary Dyer	Elizabeth of Bohemia Dorothe Engelbretsdottir Ephelia (---see Lady Mary Villiers) Alberte-Barbe d'Ernecourt (*)

F	G	H	I-J	K
Marie-Mad. de la Fayette Margaret Fell Celia Fiennes Anne Finch (Winchilsea) Anne Finche (Conway) Mademoiselle de Fontagnes Lavinia Fontana Mary Frith (Moll Cutpurse)	Artemisia Gentileschi Marie Jars le Gournay Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg Nell Gwyn	Henrietta-Maria of England Henriette-Anne of England Henriette-Charlotte von Pollnitz Anna Ovena  Hoyers Margaret Hughes Arabella Hunt Anne Hutchinson Lucy Hutchinson Anne Hyde	Esther Inglis Infante Isabelle of Spain Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la    Guerre	Anne Killigrew Kristina Wasa of Sweden Margareta Susanna von Kuntsch

L	M	N	O	P-Q
Amelia Lanyer (*) Ninon de Lenclos Isabella Leonardo Judith Leyster Elizabeth Charlotte (Liselotte) Duchess of Longueville	Madame de Maintenon Jeanne Mance (*) Hortense Mancini Maria Mancini Sister Marie de l'Incarnation Maria de Medici Maria Sybilla Merian Mary of Modena Madame de Montespan Mademoiselle de Montpensier Boyarinja Morozova Mumtaz Mahal	Empress Nur Jahan Nzingha (Queen of Matamba)	Josefa de Obiedos Dorothy Osborne	Clara Peeters Katherine Philips (Orinda) Pocahontas Duchess of Portsmouth Catharina  Questiers

R	S	T	U-V-W	X-Y-Z
Marquise de Rambouillet Saskia Rembrandt	Madame de Sable Madame de Sabliere Charlotte de Sauves Anna-Maria Van Schurman Sybilla Schwartz Madeleine de Scudery Madame de Sevigne Ume Shukishi Elisabetta Sirani Tsarina Sofia Sophie of the Palatine Sophie-Charlotte, Brandenburg Frances Stewart Hendrickje Stoffels Barbara Strozzi Anne Stuart Mary II Stuart Mary Herbert Sydney	Kateri Tekakwhita Catherine Cockburn Trotter	Countess Ulfeldt Mademoiselle de la Valliere Marguerite de Valois Madame de Villedieu (*)   Barbara Villiers Mary Villiers (Later Stuart --   duchess of Richmond and Lennox) Anna Roemers Visscher Lucy Walter Anna Waser Suzanna Wesley Elizabeth Jane Weston Anne Wharton Lady Mary Wroth	Maria Zayas y Sotomayor

 Note:  (*) in the above index indicates that no suitable digitized picture is available at the present time.

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Acknowledgments:

Thanks to the many contributors to this page, particularly Susan, Kathy, Ute, Walter D., Walter V.C., Rain, Mark, Lise, Kate, Manu, Sabine, Maike, Eric, Bart, Violetta, Maureen, Suzanne, Barbara, and Marie-Elizabeth. Your help is really appreciated.

But this project is far from complete !!! Keep on looking!

Do not hesitate to send any hints/additions/comments/thoughts to the above e-mail address! We would love to hear from you. Thank you for your interest.

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Background and Motivation:

in March 1999 during a fiercely contested Tour de Force game, we were given 30 seconds to answer the following question:

"Name at least three famous women who lived in the 17th Century"

Test yourself. Unless you are a historian or a writer, you will find this a very tough question to answer in the limited time given to you. This is rather intriguing as it contrasts sharply with naming a famous woman from the 16th or from the 18th century -- this, surprisingly, is not all that hard.

But for some uncanny reason, the 17th century seems to be associated with a great deal of mystery, as far as the female gender is concerned. Gradually, and with the help of people who are much more qualified than myself, I began searching for names and pictures. One thing this mini project made me realize is that "fame" is indeed a very relative concept. It points more to the ignorance of our generation than to the lack of brilliance of the women who lived in the 17th century.

I would hope you agree to dedicate this "gallery" to all those 17th century females who are NOT part of this collection. They did not consciously pursue fame, or else, their concept of  fame was different from ours, and, as a result,  in the eyes of 17th century (mostly male) observers/artists, they were not "visible" enough to have their images eternalized.

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