The Duarte family, assimilated Portuguese Jews (sometimes referred to as “crypto-Jews”), gained its wealth through successful commerce in jewels and, especially, diamonds—a product to which the city owes its renown to this day.

In addition to their trade in precious stones, the family also dealt in the sales of artwork. Gaspar Duarte (d. 1653) and Catharina Rodrigues (1585-1644) were the parents of six children: three of the four sisters—Leonora (b. 1610), Catharina (b. 1614), Francisca (b. 1619)—perished in the wave of pestilence that spread through the city of Antwerp in 1678. Isabella (b. 1620) and her brother Gaspar (b. 1616) both died in 1685; a second brother, Diego (b. 1612), lived until 1691.