Maria Faydherbe, referred to in the French literature as Marie Fayd'herbe (1587–1643) was a Flemish sculptor who lived and worked in
Mechelen
Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...
, then a city in the
Southern Netherlands
The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the A ...
.
Life
Maria Faydherbe was born in Mechelen in 1587 as one of three children of a brewer, who all became sculptors. Her brothers were
Hendrik and
Antoon Faydherbe. She was the aunt of Hendrik's son, the famous sculptor
Lucas Faydherbe
Lucas Faydherbe (also spelled Lucas Faijdherbe; he signed as Lucas Fayd'herbe) (Mechelen, 19 January 1617 – Mechelen, 31 December 1697)[Guild of Saint Luke
The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ide ...]
. It was claimed that in her letter she extolled her own skills which she deemed not to be inferior to those of the members of the Guild whom she called 'dozijnwerkers' (workers by the dozen). Eight sculptor-members of the Guild reacted to her letter and her statements, which they deemed damaging to their reputation, by letter of 12 January 1633. They declared themselves ready to enter into a competition with Maria Faydherbe. The competition was to be supervised by the aldermen of the city. Whether the competition ever took place and what its outcome was is not known.
As Maria was not able to become a member of the Guild she was forced to work in her family's workshop, without being able to sign her own output, and indeed probably having her work signed by her male relations. The conflict between Maria and the Guild has also been interpreted as a conflict between the Renaissance style and the new Baroque movement rather than solely as a conflict between the sexes.
Known work
The collection of the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
holds an alabaster sculpture of ''The Virgin and Child'' that is ascribed to Maria Faydherbe on the basis of a monogram reading ''MF S'', taken to signify "Maria Faydherbe Sculpsit". This discovery of a signed (monogrammed) work seems to indicate Maria did in fact sign (some of) her work.
Virgin and Child
in the V&A online collection
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faydherbe, Maria
1587 births
1643 deaths
Artists from Mechelen
Flemish women sculptors
Dutch women sculptors
Flemish Baroque sculptors