Maria Strick, Schoolmistress and Calligrapher in Early Seventeenth-Century Holland

From about the 1590s to the middle of the following century, calligraphy flowered in Holland as never before or since. Scores of gifted writing-masters produced excellent works of penmanship and printed copybooks from at least twenty-three of them have been preserved. The only woman among them was Maria Strick (nee Becq), active as schoolmistress and calligrapher in Delft and Rotterdam between 1593 and about 1630 Her life and work, including four printed copybooks and three prints, all of them engraved by her husband Hans Strick, are discussed at length, as well as her relations with contemporary writing-masters. Full, leaf-by-leaf descriptions of her copybooks are provided in the Appendix.