Onlookers or participants? Representations of women on Dutch maritime paintings in the Age of Sail

This article investigates the representation of Dutch maritime women in the painting collection of Het Scheepvaartmuseum, National Maritime Museum of the Netherlands in Amsterdam. It assesses quantitively which paintings depict women, and then qualitatively analyses how women in Dutch harbour cities in the Age of Sail were represented. This research shows that the collection holds many more paintings depicting women than indicated in the catalogue, but they are only shown ashore and in ports, thus over-emphasizing their land-based activities compared to their presence at sea. They were often depicted as onlookers, rather than active participants, while men strike more active poses in these paintings. This article discusses how especially some of the early modern paintings do depict women conducting maritime-related activities. This gives new insight into the depiction of gender in maritime visual culture, and informs curatorial practices on the diverse stories that can (and cannot) be told with these paintings.