Francisca Duarte ( Antwerp, 1595 – Gest Alkmaar, 1640) was a Portuguese singer. She was active as a court singer at the court of the governor in the

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a ''pars pro toto'') was the H ...

. She was the daughter of the banker and jeweler Diego Duarte (1545? -1628) and Leonora Duarte Rodrigues (1565? -1632?), Jewish converts to Catholicism who emigrated from Portugal to the Spanish Netherlands, and married Francisco Ferdinand du Pas (1586-1646) in 1613. She settled in Alkmaar, where she became acquainted with

Maria Tesselschade Visscher Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher, also called Maria Tesselschade Roemersdochter Visscher or Tesselschade (25 March 1594 – 20 June 1649) was a Dutch poet and glass engraver. Life Tesselschade was born in Amsterdam, the youngest of three ...

, who introduced her to artistic circles, where she was noted to be a great singer, and became the muse of poets. From 1630 onward, she acted as court singer at the court of the general governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Isabella Clara Eugenia and then

Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand (also known as Don Fernando de Austria, Cardenal-Infante Fernando de España and as Ferdinand von Österreich; May 1609 or 1610 – 9 November 1641) was Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Cardinal of the Holy Catholic ...

. In 1638, for example, she performed to the exiled

Maria de Medici Marie de' Medici (french: link=no, Marie de Médicis, it, link=no, Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, and Regent of the Kingd ...

. Duarte was famous in contemporary Europe and the subject of poetic celebration for her song.

References

* http://www.historici.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/Duarte * Gerdien van Gorp, Duarte, Francisca, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Duarte 3/01/2014 1595 births 1640 deaths Musicians of the Spanish Netherlands 17th-century women singers Belgian Sephardi Jews {{Portugal-singer-stub