Caterina or Catharina van Hemessen was a Flemish Renaissance painter.
She is the earliest female Flemish painter for whom there is verifiable extant work.
She is mainly known for a series of small scale female portraits completed between the late 1540s and early 1550s and a few religious compositions.
Van Hemessen is often given the distinction of creating the first self-portrait of an artist (of either gender) depicted seated at an easel.
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