Anna Maria van Schurman was born in Cologne #OTD 1607 (d1678). Multilingual and polymathic artist, poet and scholar, she wrote, translated and published widely, and was a painter, engraver, sculptor and pioneering pastellist. Pastel self-portrait 1640 ( @museummartena) #WomensArt

Van Schurman was a powerful advocate for female education, an issue then being vigorously debated across Europe. Her writings on the topic were widely disseminated, notably her 1641 treatise "Dissertatio de ingenii muliebris ad doctrinam". (English translation @FolgerLibrary.)

Van Schurman became the first female student at @UtrechtUni at its 1636 opening: she had publicly rebuked the university authorities for not admitting women in a Latin poem they had invited her to write. At lectures she sat behind a curtain so the male students couldn't see her.

When Jan Lievens painted this portrait of Anna Maria van Schurman in 1649 she was famous across Europe: the "Tenth Muse", the "Dutch Minerva". She fell into obscurity after her death in 1678 but latterly her life and work have been rediscovered. ( @NationalGallery CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Anna Maria van Schurman may have slipped into obscurity for 300 years and been largely written out of history but she was not forgotten, because women remember women. She had a place set for her in Judy Chicago's iconic feminist artwork of 1979, "The Dinner Party". #WomensArt