Wautier’s style shows little influence of contemporary masters of the Flemish Baroque, yet the abundance of references to French and Italianate artists in her work is remarkable. She appears to have been inspired by the French artists Simon Vouet (1590–1649) and Philippe de Champaigne (1602–1674), the more Italianate Flemish painter Theodoor van Loon (1581/2–1649), who moved to Italy in pursuit of Caravaggism, and her direct contemporary and fellow townsman, Michael Sweerts (1618–1664).² It may have been Van Loon who was the source of Wautier’s fascination with the depiction of textiles. Sweerts spent time in Italy as well and founded a life drawing academy back in Brussels. Even though Michaelina is known to have painted male nudes from life, it is very unlikely that as a woman she would have been allowed to join Sweerts’ academy to pursue artistic training.³ Painted from life, this A Young Man Smoking a Pipe fits in with the Flemish tradition of depicting single genre figures and may once have been part of a cycle of the Five Senses.⁴ The similarity in both atmosphere and detail, between the present painting and Sweerts’ work of the same subject, indicates Wautier’s knowledge and appreciation of his style.⁵ 

In Brussels, Michaelina’s work caught the attention of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614–1662), one of the most important collectors in Europe and Governor of the Spanish Netherlands. He collected locally and thus owned paintings of the most prominent Southern-Netherlandish painters. Wautier is the only female artist represented in the Archduke’s collection, and he owned four of her paintings.⁶ No other woman artist from the 17th-century Netherlands has been able to produce such a diverse oeuvre at such a high technical level. She painted portraits, still lifes, but also genre and history pieces (both religious and profane), some of exceptionally large dimensions.⁷ Michaelina Wautier died in Brussels in 1689 at the age of 85.

Notes
1. Ben van Beneden, “Prologue,” Michaelina Wautier (1604-1686). Glorifying a Forgotten Talent (Antwerp: BAI, 2018), 11.
2. Jahel Sanzsalazar, “The Influence of Others: The Wautiers, David Teniers and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm’s Theatrum Pictorium,” Michaelina Wautier (1604-1686). Glorifying a Forgotten Talent (Antwerp: BAI, 2018), 73-76.
3. Katlijne Van der Stighelen, “Michaelina’s Versatile Hand: A Career without Beginning or End?,” Michaelina Wautier (1604-1686). Glorifying a Forgotten Talent (Antwerp: BAI, 2018), 148.
4. Karolien de Clippel, “Adriaen Brouwer, Portrait Painter: New Identifications and an Iconographic Novelty,” in Simiolus, vol. 30, 3/4 (2003), 212.
5. Katlijne Van der Stighelen, “Michaelina’s Versatile Hand: A Career without Beginning or End?,” Michaelina Wautier (1604-1686). Glorifying a Forgotten Talent (Antwerp: BAI, 2018), 148.
6. Van der Stighelen, “Prima inter pares. Over de voorkeur van aartshertog Leopold-Wilhelm voor Michaelina Wautiers (c. 1620 – 1682),” H. Vlieghe & K. van der Stighelen, eds., Sponsors of the Past. Flemish Art and Patronage 1550 – 1700 (Brepols: Turnhout, 2005), 91.
7. Van der Stighelen, “Prima inter pares. Over de voorkeur van aartshertog Leopold-Wilhelm voor Michaelina Wautiers (c. 1620 – 1682),” 92.

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