Catharina Questiers

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.

[1] However, it was unusual for those who practice Catholicism to leave Catholic Brabant and move to Amsterdam, so their religious background is questionable.

She continued to mold her craft until her first work appeared in “Corpse’s Complaint”, written after the death of her admired and well esteemed friend and poet, Tesselschade Roemersdr Visscher.

“Her first play, The geheymen lover, had an operation on an existing verse to prose translation of the Spanish comedy las mujeres vieran No.

of Lope de Vega (history.com-Malou Nozeman).” She dedicated her first play to Queen Christina because she was well educated and knew Dutch, though she was not from Amsterdam.

Actor and playwright Jan van Daalen wrote in the preliminaries, "How a woman's image can make such heifers,” alluding to Catharina Questiers for the first play that she'd written for the Republic.

She and her brother, David, “etched in copper and wood, drew, sculpted, embroidered, and was skilled in the art cutting.

However, Constantijn Huygens offers a contrasting opinion; in a letter he writes that she was ‘the big fat one in Amsterdam’.

“Maria (1614/15- 1677) married Henry Goyer, sheriff of Heemstede, bailiff and later dike warden of the island of Texel.

Over the years, Catherina developed a great deal of wealth, so much so, that she gave over 10,000 guilders, (a large sum of money), to her brother, David's wife, after he died.

[2] During the 17th century, it was quite common for poets to create works together, going back and forth in friendly, poetic responses of one topic or another.

Between November 1662 and January 1663, Catherina, and her childhood friend, Cornelia van der Veer, wrote a series of poems together, that was published in 1665.