Historically, most art created by women has been categorized as “crafts,” with women largely working in mediums like textiles or pottery. “Fine art,” including painting and sculpting, was a predominantly male profession. The few female painters who were able to break into this field were generally the daughters of male painters who taught them the craft. This was how the Baroque painter Elisabetta Sirani entered the field, though her contributions to women’s place in art extend past her own fame as an artist. In the few short years of her career, Sirani not only provided for her family solely through her art, but also established an art school and taught at least fourteen other female painters there, tutoring women who would later become influential artists themselves.
Born in 1638, Sirani was fortunate enough to be a member of an artistic family. Her father was a painter at the School of Bologna, an acclaimed painting academy, and taught her the techniques of Bolognese painting. By the account of a friend of the Sirani family, Elisabetta’s father had originally been hesitant to teach her, though she proved exceptionally capable. At just 16, Elisabetta began running her family’s workshop, taking over for her father who had become too ill to work. By 19, she was an independent painter. It was through her art that she managed to support not only herself, but both of her parents and her three siblings.
Sirani’s Allegory of Justice, War, and Prudence (1663), which she created at only 25 years old.
In addition to her talent as an artist, Sirani was well-educated, especially in those popular subjects, like religion and mythology, that would go on to become the subject matter of her paintings. She was similarly well-versed in music. Reportedly very well-liked, Elisabetta would paint in front of onlookers, drawing a large crowd of those who admired her paintings, and those who simply admired her. Her stellar reputation was owed to, in part, the speed with which she could paint. At 24, just eight years after she began running her family’s workshop, Elisabetta had created over 90 works of art. By the time she died at the young age of 27, she had created over 200 pieces.
Sirani’s success as an artist wasn’t limited to her own work. She was also a remarkable teacher, educating both male and female painters. Sirani’s school was the first European painting school for women that was not a convent, and the school admitted women even if they were not the daughters of painters. This accessibility allowed female painters from non-artist families to receive training from an extremely accomplished painter, enabling more women to break into the field of fine art. Of Sirani’s students, two were her younger sisters, who went on to pursue their own careers in art. The other women that she trained came to be successful as well, establishing their own distinct careers. Sirani’s work directly impacted the inclusion of women in art, and carved out a space for more women to make their names known. When she died unexpectedly at 27, her funeral was a crowded and elaborate affair.
My first exposure to Sirani’s work—and indeed, the reason why I was inspired to write this piece about her—came after seeing her painting “Virgin and Child” in the Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. In a museum dedicated to the influence of women in art, Sirani’s story was highlighted on the plaque beside her piece. It was a fitting tribute to a woman whose work inspired and created both female artists and a precedent of successful women in fine art—the kind of legacy that the entire museum is based on.
Sirani’s Virgin and Child (1663), housed in the Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC.