Van Hemessen was a successful painter in her lifetime. She gained an important patron in the 1540s in the person of Maria of Austria, who served as regent of the Low Countries on behalf of her brother Charles V. In 1554, van Hemessen married Christian de Morien, an organist at the Antwerp Cathedral, which was an important position at that time. In 1556, when Maria of Austria returned to Spain, Catharina and her husband moved there, at the invitation of her patron. Two years later, when Maria died, Catharina was given a sizeable pension for life. Catharina and her husband returned to Antwerp where they are recorded in 1561. At that time the couple was childless. Her husband received an appointment to work in 's-Hertogenbosch and the couple moved there around 1565.