Anna Francisca de Bruyns

Anna Francisca de Bruyns, sometimes known as Anne Françoise de Bruyns, was a Flemish Baroque painter. She was born in 1604 in Morialmé. Born into an upper middle class family and raised by relatives who were employed as court artists, de Bruyns was one of many women artists of her time, and while there is little English scholarship about her, she is one of the best documented of her peers. She was taught to paint by her older cousin, Jacob Franquart. She was painting by the age of seventeen and is said to have surpassed many painters of her time.