Elisabetta Sirani (8 January 1638 – 28 August 1665) was an Italian Baroque painter and printmaker who died in unexplained circumstances at the age of 27. She was one of the first women artists in early modern Bologna. She became a successful painter, producing public altarpieces as well as privately commissioned pictures.
Elisabetta Sirani was born in Bologna on 8 January 1638, the first of four children of Margherita and Giovanni Andrea Sirani. Giovanni was an art merchant and painter of the School of Bologna, having been a favorite assistant of Guido Reni. He did not produce many works during his lifetime; instead, he took over Reni's job as a teacher, and became the master in the first life school held in the house of Ettore Ghislieri.
Sirani first trained as a painter in her father's studio. There is evidence that Giovanni was not inclined at first to have his daughter as a pupil, but she picked up his technique nonetheless and became one of the most renowned painters in Bologna. The art biographer Carlo Cesare Malvasia, a personal acquaintance of the Sirani family, claimed credit for recognizing Elisabetta's talent and persuading her father to train her as a painter, although this was likely self-aggrandizing.
Sirani's biography is included in Malvasia's two-volume Felsina pittrice: vite de’pittori bolognesi, or Lives of the Bolognese Painters, first published in 1678. She is presented therein as the epitome of Bolognese genius, and Malvasia takes much pride in his (alleged) contribution to her early career. Throughout, he praises the originality of her compositions, her style of drawing, her fast manner of working and her professionalism, contrasting her with Lavinia Fontana, an earlier Bolognese woman painter whom he describes as timid.
In establishing her painting style, Sirani studied the works of Annibale Carracci, Lorenzo Pasinelli, Desubleo, Simone Cantarini, and Cignani. Along with technique, her early education included outlines of Bible history and the legends of saints, as well as Classical mythology. Sirani received her first commission in her teens, a Baptism of Christ, which was a companion piece to an earlier painting by her father at the Campo Santo of Bologna. She was also knowledgeable in music, perhaps because her brother-in-law was a musician.
According to some scholars, Sirani's artistic reputation soon overshadowed that of both her father and her two sisters, who were also painters. By 1654, Giovanni Andrea Sirani became incapacitated by gout, so Elisabetta began running her family's workshop. At this point, she was the household's primary breadwinner, supporting the family with her teaching fees and portrait commissions. Her studio was highly successful, partially due to the progressive atmosphere of Bologna, where women artists were accepted and celebrated.
Sirani died suddenly in August 1665, in Bologna. Her death was considered suspicious and a maidservant, Lucia Tolomelli, was charged with poisoning the artist and put on trial. Suspicion fell on Tolomelli because she had requested to end her service to the family only days before Sirani's death. Giovanni Andrea Sirani withdrew the charges soon after the trial. Laura Ragg comments that Sirani died at "an age regarded as young indeed for death, but hopelessly late for marriage." Malvasia attributed her death to love-sickness because Sirani never married. Her actual cause of death was most likely the onset of peritonitis after a ruptured peptic ulcer. This may have been the result of the intense stress she was submitted to after she was charged with providing for her entire household.
Sirani was given an elaborate funeral which included an enormous catafalque with a life-sized sculpture of the artist (illustrated in Malvasia's biography), orations and music composed in her honor by Bologna's most prominent citizens, and she was buried in the Basilica of San Domenico, Bologna, in the same tomb as her father's teacher, Guido Reni. Sirani's public funeral is regarded by some, including Laura Ragg, as a eulogy to Bologna, the city that gave birth to Sirani, considered a precocious and prolific artist by her contemporaries. Sirani was described by a poet as the Lamented Paintbrush. Malvasia suggests that it was not poisoning but a condition that arose spontaneously in the body of a “vivacious and spirited woman, concealing to the highest degree her craving for a perhaps coveted husband denied to her by her father.” A city official at the time wrote that “She is mourned by all. The ladies especially whose portraits she flattered, cannot hold their peace about it. Indeed it is a great misfortune to lose such great artist in so strange a manner.” The ostentatious and elaborate funeral she received reflects the high esteem she was held in by her contemporaries and indeed her international fame.
Not only was Elisabetta Sirani the successor of her father's workshop, she was also a great teacher of many, especially contributing to women artists’ development during the Renaissance period. She trained a number of men and women artists, including her younger sisters Barbara and Anna Maria and at least twelve other young women at the school she set up. This became the first school of painting for women in Europe outside of a convent, and it was inclusive regardless of the women's artistic and social connections.
Some of her pupils included Veronica Fontana, later known throughout Italy as a first-rate wood-engraver; Caterina Pepoli and Maria Elena Panzacchi, who also had art careers in Bologna; Camelia Lanteri and Lucretia Forni, who specialized in large-scale religious paintings; and Veronica Franchi, whose predilection was for mythological subjects. Lucrezia Scarfaglia was another pupil. Lastly, there was Ginevra Cantofoli, represented during her career as Sirani's enemy and rival.
Sirani produced over 200 paintings, 15 etchings, and hundreds of drawings, making her an extremely prolific artist, especially considering her early death. Of these hundreds of drawings, about a quarter relate to known paints or prints done by Sirani. Sirani kept a meticulous list and records of her paintings and who commissioned them beginning in 1655, which is recorded in Malvasia's biography. Additionally many of her paintings are signed, which was not a common practice among her male counterparts. It's possible that she chose to do this in order to avoid her work being confused with that of her father. Her signature also offered a way to further prove her powers of invention, which, according to Ann Sutherland Harris, distinguished her from other Italian women artists. Sirani's exceptional productivity was the result of how quickly she painted. She painted so many works that many doubted that she painted them all herself. To refute such charges she invited her accusers on 13 May 1664 to watch her paint a portrait in one sitting.
Her works cover a number of subjects, including historical and Biblical narratives, allegories, and portraits, all of which often featured women. Sirani was the first female artist in Bologna to specialize in history painting, and many of the women painters that Sirani trained followed suit. Sirani's specialization in history painting is very different than other female painters of the time, who usually only painted still lifes. She received her first major public commission on February 28, 1657 at the age of nineteen in Bologna, from Daniele Granchi, prior of the Carthusian church of Certosa di Bologna.
She painted at least 13 public altarpieces, including The Baptism of Christ at the Certosa di Bologna of 1658. Around 1660, she began focusing extensively on small-scale devotional images, particularly the Virgin and Child and Holy Family, which were enormously popular with private collectors. Her patrons ranged from cardinals to kings, princes, dukes, merchants, and academics from Bologna and across Europe. Sirani became a celebrity in her city as visitors, such as diplomats, political leaders, and noblemen, would come to her studio to watch her work.