QUESTIERS, Catharina - b. 1631 Amsterdam, d. 1669 Amsterdam

Dutch poet, dramatist, and engraver. Along with Cornelia van der Veer and Katharyne Lescailje she was the most successful female Dutch poet of the second half of the 17th century. Her brother David (1623-1663) also achieved some note as a poet. Catherina was not just a formidable poet and playwright. She was a very dynamic, and multitalented artist as well. She and her brother, David, etched in copper and wood, drew, sculpted, embroidered, and was skilled in the art cutting. Engravings of her hand appeared in De koddige olipodrigo (1654). These pictures illustrated some of her poems as well as the poems of her brother, David.

Discussion about a Picture Representing Venus and Adonis

The variety of jokes that could be made in explaining the subject of a painting emerges from a rhyming, semi-argot dialogue written by David Questiers in his book De koddige olipodrigo (The droll hotchpotch) published in 1654. The present engraving is an illustration in Part 2 of the book.