A major exhibition at the Royal Academy is presenting the work of 17th-century Flemish painter Michaelina Wautier, an artist whose significant oeuvre was long misattributed to her male contemporaries, including her brother Charles. The show acts as a real-time art historical investigation, using scientific analysis, scholarship, and connoisseurship to reconstruct her career and assert her authorship of ambitious works like the monumental 'The Triumph of Bacchus'.
This exhibition is a pivotal moment in the ongoing revision of the art historical canon, moving beyond rediscovery to a rigorous forensic reconstruction of a lost master's legacy. It highlights the systemic barriers faced by women artists of the era—such as being denied access to life drawing classes—while demonstrating Wautier's exceptional skill across genres. The show makes a powerful case for the essential, if unquantifiable, role of connoisseurship in attribution, challenging the art market's over-reliance on scientific data alone.