Gerardina Jacoba van de Sande Bakhuyzen
1826–1895 · Dutch painter of flower and fruit still lifes
Gerardina Jacoba van de Sande Bakhuyzen (The Hague, 1826 – The Hague, 1895) was a 19th-century painter from the Northern Netherlands, known above all for her still lifes of flowers and fruit. She came from a family of artists: her father, the painter Hendrik van de Sande Bakhuyzen, taught her and her brother Julius to paint.
From childhood she painted flowers, a pursuit that drew little notice from her family and friends, since it was a common occupation for girls. A turning point came in 1850, when the Minerva Academy in Groningen announced a competition on the theme “Roses and Dahlias” with a modest prize. Her father encouraged her to enter. She received the smallest reward on offer, and to her surprise the academy kept the painting.
Her work earned distinctions, including a silver medal in The Hague in 1857 and an honorary medal in Amsterdam in 1861. She also exhibited at international shows, among them the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880, the International Colonial and Export Exhibition in Amsterdam in 1883, and the Palace of Fine Arts at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Her legacy lies mainly in her still lifes, such as “Still Life with Flowers and Fruit” (1869).