Very few women were professional artists during the 1600s. In a 2004 book on Dutch Golden Age paintings by art historian Christopher Lloyd, van Oosterwijck was the only woman whose work was included. Early writers tended to depict female artists by correlating virtues which were traditionally held by women with similar values gleaned from interpretation of their paintings. Van Oosterwijck, who devoted her life to her painting rather than being a wife and mother, proved a challenging subject for these writers, and their accounts may not portray her as a fully formed personality. The more personal aspects of her paintings were also largely unexplored. This is in contrast to Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750), who was married and had 10 children, and was written about in very personable and glowing terms. As an homage to van Oosterwijck's skill as a floral painter – considered an acceptable vocation for a woman of the time – Wallerant Vaillant painted a portrait of her holding a palette. This 1671 portrait, in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, shows her holding a Bible in her other hand. Another portrait of her, attributed to Gerard de Lairesse, features her posing with poet Dirk Schelte. In 1673, Schelte had written a poem in tribute to the beauty of van Oosterwijck's paintings, as well as that of her character. The portrait appears to reference the poem, picturing van Oosterwijck, with palette and brushes, as a painter-muse, serving as an inspiration to Schelte the poet. She taught her servant Geertgen Wyntges, also known as Geertje Pieters, to mix her paints, and trained her as a painter too. After van Oosterwijck died, Wyntges lived independently, supporting herself as a painter. Arnold Houbraken, biographer of Dutch Golden Age artists, eulogized van Oosterwijck, but did not consider her to be a professional artist, despite the very large sums paid for her paintings by such high-profile collectors as various members of European royalty. Van Oosterwijck created floral paintings and still lifes with allegorical themes during a period in which such works were much sought after in Central Europe. She and Ruysch were judged to be the most eminent still life painters of the Low Countries. Van Oosterwijck's work, using luminous colors, is very richly detailed, sometimes demonstrating chiaroscuro techniques in her use of light and shadow. She frequently painted dark backgrounds, which resulted in increased brilliance of the foregrounds. She helped to transform the genre of the floral still life, painting realistically in a manner similar to the 16th-century Dutch trompe-l'oeil tradition. There are very few existing pieces that have been identified as being by van Oosterwijck, most of which are florals, but Houbraken determined that she had created many other still lifes. Many of her paintings were small format. This was often the case for artists of the time, as large pieces tended to restrict sales opportunities to wealthier clients such as churches or the state.... [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_van_Oosterwijck]