Catharina Questiers

Catharina Questiers (21 November 1631 – 3 February 1669) was a Dutch poet and dramatist. 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. Her brother David also achieved some note as a poet.

Catharina Questiers was born and died in Amsterdam. Her parents were Salomon Davidsz. Questiers (1590-1636), and Elisabeth Jan (1593-1660). The family originally came from the Flemish Ypres. Her father had a thriving plumbing business in Amsterdam Warmoesstraat. Catherine was the youngest of 6 children born in the house, [2] and was suspected to come from a Roman Catholic background. [2] However, it was unusual for those who practice Catholicism to leave Catholic Brabant, and move to Amsterdam, so their religious background is questionable.

Her father’s business made their family relatively wealthy, so they had a good life. Her father was not only a business man, but had influence and prestige in the theatrical and literary arts. He was a member of the Brabant “Chamber of Rhetoric, White Lavender, a member of Coster’s Academy, and a playwright. He wrote a play called “Griecxen Amadis” that was performed numerous times in what was at the time the most prestigious theatre, the Academy on the Keizersgracht. [2]

Catharina wrote her first poem with her brother, David, when she was 8 years old. 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. The poem appeared in JacobViverius, “Wintery Nights”. [2]

Catharina Questiers began making a name for herself when she began writing plays for the Dutch Republic. At the time, Spanish plays were revered for their love triangles and spectacular action scenes. “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. Her second play was, “cashmere” or muffled to high, was modeled this play after Spanish prose as well. It was first performed on October 25, 1656. This play in particular earned Catharina a great deal more prestige and fame, because Amsterdam’s first professional actress Ariana Nozeman starred in the play. The talk of her play gained so much attention that the Amsterdam city council attended a performance. [2]

When Catharina first began writing plays for the Republic, she was the youngest person to ever do so. Furthermore, she was one of the first female writers of her time, which created a great deal of interest amongst her male co-authors. 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.

...
Wikipedia