Women artists in all ages and countries

by E. F. Ellet

Numerous were the young women who learned painting in the atelier of the Caracci; while other masters had their share of fair students. Domenichino is said to have been the teacher of Flavia Durand, Teresa del Po, and Artemisia Gentileschi; Lanfranco brought to light the talent of Caterina Ginnassi; Guido Reni gave instruction to Madalena Natali, and formed the genius of Elisabetta Sirani, the pride of the Bolognese school. Albano, however, was an exception, and, with the churlish Guercino, who despised every thing like female talent, had no pupils of the fair sex. A sister of one of his pupils, nevertheless—Flaminia Triva, of Reggio—became a painter much esteemed by the connoisseurs of her time.

Of these artists, only the three most distinguished need be noticed here. Caterina Ginnassi, of noble family and the niece of a cardinal, was born in Rome, 1590. She was well instructed from early youth in all feminine employments, useful as well as brilliant. She often said, afterward, “The needle and distaff are sad enemies to the brush and the pencil.” Her first master was Clelio, and after his death she threw herself into the bold and brilliant manner of Lanfranco. She produced the great paintings that adorned the church founded by her uncle, of St. Lucia, in Rome. Becoming the inheritor of the cardinal’s large possessions, she founded, according to his directions, a cloister, with a seminary attached for students from Romagna; as abbess of which, she continued to practice her favorite art, dying in 1680, in the enjoyment of the fame and popularity her industry and piety had deservedly won.

ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI.

The life of Artemisia Gentileschi was more in the world and more brilliant. She was the daughter of the painter Orazio Gentileschi, was married to Pier Antonio Schiattesi, and lived long in Naples. Receiving her earliest lessons from Guido Reni, at a later period she studied the works of Domenichino, one of the best masters of expression in the Bolognese school. Her great reputation was acquired by numerous portraits, and her skill in this species of painting obtained for her the honor of a call to the English court, whither her father accompanied her. There the art-appreciating monarch Charles I. gave her abundant employment. She was esteemed not inferior to her father in historical pieces. King Charles placed several of her works among his treasures. “David with Goliath’s head” was considered her best. Some of the royal family sat to her for their portraits, as did several of the nobility. A female figure, representing Fame, of great merit, was in the royal collection. Her own portrait is in Hampton Court, painted in the powerful and vivid style of Michael Angelo. Wägen says she excelled her father in portraits.

Having reaped a rich, reward for her labors in England, she returned to Naples, where she seems to have established herself in much splendor. She died in 1642, at the age of fifty-two. Several letters addressed to the Cavalier del Pozzo were found among her papers. In one, dated 1637, she inquires coolly after her husband. “Sia servita darmi nuova della vita o morte di mio marito.” Some of her letters contain orders for gloves; now her request to the Pope was permission for a priestly friend to bear arms; now she appealed to the Cardinal Barberini, then, all powerful in Rome, for assistance in disposing of some large picture, to furnish means to provide for the wedding of a daughter with suitable magnificence; after the granting of which favor, she would add, in the Italian fashion, that, “free from this burden,” she would return contented to her home. A fine specimen of her skill in painting is a picture of “Judith,” in the Palazzo Pitti, which shows, in its ground-work, the principles of the school of Bologna; while its finish, on the other hand, exhibits the startling effects of the Neapolitan school. Lanzi says, “It is a picture of strong coloring, of a tone and intensity that inspires awe.” Mrs. Jameson remarks, “This dreadful picture is a proof of her genius, and, let me add, of its atrocious misdirection.” But the artist should not be censured for her treatment of a subject which may not have been her own choice. “Susannah and the Elders” pleases by the scene and the drapery of the figures. The “Birth of John the Baptist,” in the Museum of Madrid, painted by this lady as a family piece, displays the same combination, but has more of the freedom of nature, and a certain boldness that betokens familiar acquaintance with life and the best models.

ELISABETTA SIRANI.

A place among the most gifted and the most illustrious women who, in any country or in any age, have devoted themselves to the fine arts, must be accorded to Elisabetta Sirani. She has been pronounced a complete artist; unrivaled by any of her sex in fertility of invention, in the power of combining parts in a noble whole, in knowledge of drawing and foreshortening, and in the minute details that contribute to the perfection of a painting. Had she lived longer, she would have equaled any painter of her time.

She was born in Bologna, about 1640, and was the daughter of a painter of no inconsiderable merit. She was enrolled among the pupils of Guido Reni, and her artistic character was formed after the model of this most gifted and most versatile master of the Bolognese school. She imbibed from him an exquisite sense of the beautiful, and a peculiar gift of reproducing it. To this she added a vigor and energy rare in a woman. She made herself acquainted early with the works of the most distinguished painters, and manifested so much talent in youth, that she became the admiration of her acquaintances, particularly as she excelled also in music; while, to the gift of genius, she added that of rare personal loveliness. Lanzi speaks of her with enthusiastic admiration. It is not often that an artist of celebrity so generally wins the affections of those who know her. This popularity perhaps added to her renown; or the tragical fate of the blooming girl may have contributed to invest her name with a halo of romantic glory. Malvasia, who tells us she was persuaded by her father to adopt the profession of a painter, calls her “the heroine among artists”—and himself “the trumpeter of her fame.” Another eulogist, in the glowing style of Picinardi, praises her unwearied industry, her moderation in eating, and simplicity in dress; and the exquisite modesty with which she was always ready for household employments. She would rise at dawn to perform those lowly domestic tasks for which her occupations during the day left her little leisure, and never permitted her passion for art to interfere with the fulfillment of homely duties. Thus she was admirable in the circle of daily life, as in her loftiest aspirations. She obtained time in this manner for her exercises in poetry and music. All praised her gracious and cheerful spirit, her prompt judgment, and deep feeling for the art she loved. Besides being a painter, she was an adept in sculpture and engraving on copper, thus meriting the praise lavished on her as “a miracle of art.”

Her devoted filial affection, her feminine grace, and the artless benignity of her manners, completed a character regarded by her friends as an ideal of perfection. Malvasia mentions the rapidity with which she worked, often throwing off sketches and executing oil pictures in the presence of strange spectators. The envious artists of her time took occasion, from the number of her paintings, to insinuate that her father gave out his own works for his daughter’s to obtain a higher price for them; but the stupid calumny soon fell to the ground, for every one had free access to the studio of Elisabetta, and one day, in the presence of the Duchess of Brunswick, the Duchess of Mirandola, Cosimo, Duke of Tuscany, and others, she drew and shaded subjects chosen by each with such promptitude that the incredulous were confounded. She had hardly received the commission of her large picture—“The Baptism of Jesus”—before she had sketched on the canvas the entire conception of that memorable incident, including many and various figures; and the work was completed with equal rapidity. She was then only twenty years of age.

Her method has been compared to that of Guido Reni, whose versatility she combined with rare force and decision, and peculiar delicacy and tenderness; the most opposite qualities being harmonized in her productions.