Clara Peeters

Active in Antwerp during the burgeoning golden age of Flemish trade, Peeters created signed and dated still lifes starting as early as 1607 at age thirteen. She mastered the depiction of diverse textures: crusty bread, aging cheeses, polished pewter, delicate butter curls, and exotic shells.

Her subtle mastery of light and reflective surfaces—often reflecting her own image in tiny silver vessels—established her as one of the very few female artists of seventeenth-century Europe to achieve lasting international acclaim across Spain and Germany.