In the Academy Building’s Senaatskamer, some hundred and twenty academics, mostly old men, gazed down at the visitors – until this week, that is, when fourteen female academics were added. Their portraits fan out diagonally from below the picture of Sophia Antoniadis, the first female professor and, until recently, the only woman to be found in the Senaatskamer.
The pictures, freshly painted and modern, stand out quite a bit from the dark, stately portraits of the others. Psychologist Eveline Crone has been portrayed with her laptop, archaeologist Corrie Bakels is pictured with a digger in the background and historian Nicolette Mout is sitting, a cat on her lap, in front of a colourful landscape.
And there’s another striking difference: all the women are still alive. “We used to have three criteria for portraits in the Senaatskamer: a widespread academic reputation, a good artist and the non-negotiable one: you must be dead”, says Willem Otterspeer, Professor of University History. “The Rector boldly did away with the last one. He’s right, too, otherwise it would take ages before we get more women, and more colour, in the Senaatskamer.”
However, fourteen men had to make way, following a selection for which Otterspeer was responsible. “Actually, I applied the same criteria as before: have we heard of them and were they painted by a good artist? Then you start eliminating. A number of people should certainly remain there: Physicist Johannes Petrus Kuenen, painted by Jan Veth, can’t go. It’s one of the very best portraits we have. Anyway, I looked at the pros and cons and ended up with a category of which I could say: here goes.”
The group of axed men includes Jan Ernst Heeres, who was called “the Netherlands’ most feminist man” in 1924, because of his dedication to women’s suffrage. Why was he removed? Otterspeer: “Have you heard of him, the historian of the mission? No? That’s why. Of course, there are dozens of conceivable reasons as to why someone’s portrait should or should not be there. You must realise it’s a heart-breaking choice. It’s quite a good exercise on the vanity of life: you’re been hanging there for a century, and then you’re gone.”
What happens to the ones who have been axed? “We’ve stored the other portraits in the depot”, explains Corrie van Maris at the Academic History Museum, which is responsible for looking after the collection in the Academy Building. “We’ll see if we can find a suitable place for them.” The portrait of Willemijn Fock, the art historian, hasn’t been hung yet but will be added later.
In March 2016, photographs of female professors were exhibited in the Senaatskamer for a month. The initiative was launched by Athena’s Angels, a pressure group consisting of four female professors from Leiden who are dedicated to ensuring equal opportunities for men and women in science.