In 2022, Cynthia Osiecki, a curator at the National Museum of Norway in Oslo, was studying the works of Clara Peeters, a pioneering 17th-century Flemish still-life painter. She stumbled upon an unattributed painting in the museum's storage area, titled 'Still Life with Small Game and Grapes on a Gilded Tazza', created around 1620. The painting, which depicts nine freshly dead birds, hazelnuts, apricots, and a fly on a bunch of grapes, had once been attributed to Ambrosius Brueghel, but was reclassified as 'anonymous' in the early 20th century and subsequently relegated to storage.

Osiecki noticed several clues pointing to Peeters: the panel was from a supplier Peeters often used, the tazza (a pedestal dish) matched those in her other works, and the composition of dead birds, grapes, and hazelnuts was similar. One snag: Peeters was known for signing her works, but the bottom edge of the panel, where she typically signed, had been eaten by woodworm. Additionally, Peeters was famous for hiding miniature self-portraits in shiny surfaces, and Osiecki spotted shapes resembling human figures on the grapes - possibly the artist herself, though the image may have been lost during conservation.

Earlier this year, the painting was officially reattributed to Peeters, and it will feature prominently in the exhibition 'Woman Painter' at the National Museum of Norway, opening on 8 October. Curated by Osiecki, the show highlights female artists from northern Europe and Italy between 1550 and 1650, including Artemisia Gentileschi, Lavinia Fontana, and Judith Leyster.

Peeters's still lifes are intimate meditations on mortality, says Osiecki: 'Her paintings, including the newly attributed work, are all about the brevity of life. We see recently dead birds, who will be part of a feast for humans, and grapes that will soon either be eaten or will decay. And though the work includes luxurious objects such as the tazza, Peeters is making the point that you can't take anything with you when you die. In the end we're all equal.'

Nora Ceciliedatter Nerdrum, director of exhibitions and collections at the National Museum, notes that the reattribution is part of a broader effort to recover women's art history. In 2016, Peeters became the first woman to receive a solo show at the Prado. Osiecki predicts more discoveries: 'Watch this space, because there will be lots more of these finds in the future. The more we look, the more archival research we do, the more women we're going to find.'