Wilhelmina van Idsinga

Self portrait, 1817

Jacobus Scheltema (1767-1835). Geschiedschrijver Rijksmuseum (Jacobus Scheltema, historiker)

Wilhelmina van Idsinga also Wilhelmina Geertruida of Idsinga, (1788–1819) was a Dutch painter. She was born in Leeuwarden.^[1]

Early life[]

Wilhelmina van Idsinga was the only child of jonkheer , registrar of the states of Friesland, and . When she was six years old, her mother died, after which Johan van Idsinga married . Her father's second marriage was childless.^[2]

While she was young, she started drawing and painting portraits, initially in pastel chalk and later in oil paintings. She was taught by the Frisian painters and .^[3][4]

Career[]

Around 1814 her artistic talent came to fruition.^[5] In that year she exhibited in The Hague and Amsterdam. Among other things, in Amsterdam was the portrait of a girl with a basket of flowers. Two years later, in 1816, she exhibited a pastel drawing to the painting "a historical ordinance, being the widow of Sarepta and the prophet Elias" by Govert Flinck . In 1818 Van Idsinga exhibited a portrait of a Frisian woman and a pastel drawing of an elderly man in an exhibition of living artists. The General Arts and Letterman called the works " showing off her practiced painting talent ."^[6][7][8]

Death[]

Wilhelmina van Idsinga died on May 3, 1819, of a "a breast disease," Her parents left Wilhelmina's self-portrait with straw hat, which Wumkes in the New Dutch Biographical Dictionary called her best piece,^[9] to the  [nl], where the painting still resides.^[10][11]

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  Portret van een meisje met hoed (Portrait of a girl with a hat).

References[]