Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher, also called Maria Tesselschade Roemersdochter Visscher or Tesselschade (25 March 1594 – 20 June 1649) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and glass engraver.

Life

Tesselschade was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, the youngest of three daughters of poet and humanist

Roemer Visscher Roemer Pieterszoon Visscher (1547 – 19 February 1620) was a successful Dutch merchant, the first Dutch underwriter and writer of the Dutch Golden Age. Life Visscher was born in and lived in Amsterdam and was an important and central figure of t ...

. She was given the name ''Tesselschade'' ("Damage on Tessel"), because her father lost ships near the Dutch island

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...

on Christmas Eve 1593, three months before her birth, to remember that 'worldly wealth could be gone instantly.' Engraved rummer - Sic Soleo Amicos - attributed to Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher - Rijksmuseum - BK-NM-10754-50

Engraved rummer - Sic Soleo Amicos - attributed to Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher - Rijksmuseum - BK-NM-10754-50

She and her sister

Anna Visscher Anna Roemers Visscher (c. 2 February 1583 – 6 December 1651) was a Dutch people, Dutch artist, poet, and translation, translator. Biography Anna Roemers Visscher was the eldest daughter of Amsterdam merchant and poet Roemer Visscher and the s ...

were the only female members of the

Muiderkring The Muiderkring (Muiden Circle) was the name given to a group of figures in the arts and sciences who regularly met at the castle of Muiden near Amsterdam during the first half of the 17th century, or the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic. The c ...

, the group of Dutch Golden Age intellectuals who met at

Muiden Muiden () is a city and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It lies at the mouth of the Vecht and is in an area called the Vechtstreek. Since 2016, Muiden has been part of the new municipality of Gooise Mere ...

Castle. She is often characterised as a

muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

of the group and attracted the admiration of its members, such as its organiser Hooft, Huygens, Barlaeus,

Bredero Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero (16 March 1585 – 23 August 1618) was a Dutch poet and playwright in the period known as the Dutch Golden Age. Life Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero was born on 16 March 1585 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic ...

, Heinsius,

Vondel Joost van den Vondel (; 17 November 1587 – 5 February 1679) was a Dutch poet, writer and playwright. He is considered the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century. His plays are the ones from that period that are still most ...

and

Jacob Cats Jacob Cats (10 November 1577 – 12 September 1660) was a Dutch poet, humorist, jurist and politician. He is most famous for his emblem books. Early years Jacob Cats was born on 10 November 1577 in Brouwershaven as son of Adriaen Cornelis ...

. In their correspondence, she is described as attractive, musically talented, and a skilled translator and commentator from French and Italian. They also praised her skill at singing, painting, carving,

glass engraving Engraved glass is a type of decorated glass that involves shallowly engraving the surface of a glass object, either by holding it against a rotating wheel, or manipulating a "diamond point" in the style of an engraving burin. It is a subgroup of ...

and

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...

work. The

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Ste ...

has an example of her engraving work, a

römer The Römer (German surname, "Roman") is a medieval building in the Altstadt of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and one of the city's most important landmarks. The Römer is located opposite the Old St. Nicholas church and has been the city hall ('' ...

drinking glass engraved with the motto ''Sic Soleo Amicos'' ("this is how I treat my friends"). In 1623, she married a ship's officer, Allard Crombalch. After he died in 1634, Huygens and Barlaeus proposed marriage to her, offers she rejected. In remembrance of Tesselschade there are several streets named after her, such as ''Tesselschadestraat'' and ''Tesselschadelaan'' in Alkmaar, Eindhoven,

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on ...

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

and

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Stadsfries dialects, Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Fri ...

References

External links

Maria Tesselschade Visscher
- digital version of all her poems
Visscher, Tesselschade Roemersdr.
''Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland'' (in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tesselschade Visscher, Maria 1594 births 1649 deaths 17th-century Dutch poets 17th-century Dutch women writers 17th-century writers Dutch women poets Engravers from Amsterdam Muiderkring Writers from Amsterdam Dutch Golden Age writers Burials at the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam Dutch women artists Glass engravers Women engravers 17th-century engravers 17th-century women artists Italian–Dutch translators Dutch glass artists

Life

References

Further reading

External links