Painter. She received international acclaim as a prolific Dutch portrait painter with shows and commissions throughout Europe and the United States. Her subjects included the poor and the rich, commoners and royalty, a group in nonchalant poses or a single person in a formal pose. In 1919 a conservative estimate was made that she had painted at least 1,000 portraits. With a sense for business, she became a millionaire doing a portrait in three days. She was a member of the Amsterdamse Joffers, which was a group of about a dozen women artists, which included herself together with, Jacoba Surie, Betsy Westendorp-Osieck, Nelly Bodenheim, Maria Engelina van Regteren Altena, and her niece,Lizzy Ansingh. In 1912, this group received the name of Amsterdamse Joffers by art critic, Albert Plasschaert. The group met weekly in the last quarter of the 19th century to share ideas, paint and have art shows. These ladies were the role models for future Dutch female artists. At age five, her artist training began at home with her father, Johnna Georg Schwartz, who was a noted portrait painter. Her father had a German heritage, lived his childhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and considered himself as Dutch. Early in her career, she studied under Gabriel Max and Franz von Lenbach in Munich, Germany. In 1879, she traveled to Paris to study under Jean-Jacques Henner and she continued for eight years in the women's class at the Amsterdam Academy of the Arts. At first, all her portraits were done in oil but by 1885, she was working with pastels mainly with portraits of women and children and saving the oil for the men. At the Paris World's Fair in 1889, she was the recipient of the Silver Medal for one of her self-portraits. Besides her commissioned portraits, she did still lifes and flora pieces. Up to her 1918 death, she remained in demand as the Dutch elite's leading portraitist. She finished two portraits in 1918: “Woman from Cordobe” and “Portrait of Hugo de Vries.” Authors Cora Hollema and Pieternel Kouwenhoven have compiled a limited edition book of Schwartze's portraits explaining details of each one, :Theresa Schwartze: Painting for a Living.” Her original burial site was at Amsterdam Begraafplaats Zorgvlied, but she was re-interred at Nieuwe Osssterbegraafplaats.