Elisabetta Sirani

A light-skinned young woman with long curly brown hair is pictured against a dark background from the waist up. She wears a blue dress with large flowy white and pink sleeves, with a pearl necklace and dangling earrings. In her hands, she holds a palette and paintbrush.

Elisabetta Sirani, Self Portrait, ca. 1660; Courtesy of Soprintendenza P.S.A.E. di Bologna, Archivio Pinacoteca Nazionale

1638 to 1665

An independent painter by 19, Sirani ran her family’s workshop. When her father became incapacitated by gout, she supported her parents, three siblings, and herself entirely through her art.

Sirani spent her life in Bologna, a city famous for its progressive attitude toward women’s rights and for producing successful female artists. She became known for her ability to paint beautifully finished canvases so quickly that many visited her studio to watch her work. Her paintings were acquired by wealthy, noble, and even royal patrons, including the Grand Duke Cosimo III de Medici.

Sirani’s funeral was an elaborate affair involving formal orations, special poetry and music, and an enormous catafalque decorated with a life-size sculpture of the deceased. In addition to her substantial oeuvre, Sirani left an important legacy through her teaching. Her pupils included her two sisters, Barbara and Anna Maria, and more than a dozen other young women who became professional painters.

Artist Details

  • Name

    Elisabetta Sirani

  • Birth

    Bologna, Italy, 1638

  • Death

    Bologna, Italy, 1665

  • Phonetic Spelling

    ay-LEEZ-ah-BAY-tah see-RAH-nee

Works by Elisabetta Sirani

  • The Holy Family with St. Elizabeth and St. John the Baptist

    Elisabetta Sirani created numerous depictions of the Holy Family, often repeating or varying the themes for private collectors. She may have created this etching as a more personal view of Mary and Saint Elizabeth with their children.

    Sirani portrays the figures in a domestic setting. The Virgin Mary nurses Jesus, who rests across her lap. Saint John squirms at her...

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    Etching shows the Virgin Mary nursing Jesus and dangling an object for a toddler-aged Saint John. Saint Elizabeth is on the right, her face weathered and her hands occupied. Saint Joseph, carpentry tools in hand, occupies the background, a raised axe in his right hand.

    Elisabetta Sirani, The Holy Family with St. Elizabeth and St. John the Baptist, 1650-1660; Etching on paper, 10 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay

  • Virgin and Child

    Elisabetta Sirani’s Virgin and Child portrays Mary not as a remote Queen of Heaven but as a very real, young mother.

    Wearing the turban favored by peasant women in Bologna, Mary gazes adoringly at the plump baby wriggling on her lap. Within her embrace, the Christ child playfully leans back to crown his mother with a garland of roses, which she lowers...

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    A young, light-skinned, brunette woman gazes down lovingly at the plump baby she holds on her lap. She wears a loose, tan turban, vivid blue cloak, and red dress with white sleeves. The light-skinned child returns her gaze, leaning back to crown the woman with a circlet of roses.

    Elisabetta Sirani, Virgin and Child, 1663; Oil on canvas, 34 x 27 1/2 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Conservation funds generously provided by the Southern California State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts; Photo by Lee Stalsworth

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