- Giovanna Garzoni
Giovanna Garzoni (1600-1670) was an Italian painter of the
Baroque era. She was unusual for Italian artists of the time for two reasons: first, in that her themes were mainly decorative and lusciousstill-life s of fruits, vegetables, and flowers, and second, because she was a woman.Her training was with an otherwise unknown painter from her native town of
Ascoli Piceno . She gained substantial success at her trade in Rome, Venice, Florence (1642-1651), Naples, and Turin. She was patronized byCassiano dal Pozzo and the wife of TaddeoBarberini , Anna Colonna. In Turin she painted for Carlo Emanuele II, Duke of Savoy. She returns to Rome in the 1650s. In 1666, Garzoni bequeathed her entire estate to the Romanpainters' guild theAccademia di San Luca , on condition that they build her tomb in their church ofSanti Luca e Martina . Her tomb monument byMattia De Rossi is to the right of the entrance.Laura Bernasconi was also a woman painter of still-life flowers in Rome in the 1670s. In Rome, she would have been a contemporary ofCaterina Ginnasi .It is likely that in Naples she was exposed to the still-lifes of
Giovan Battista Ruoppolo and his contemporaries. Others citeJacopo Ligozzi orFede Galizia as possible influences in her choice of still life topics.The
Cleveland Museum of Art , in a short biography below a painting attributed to her, claims she traveled to Northern Europe [http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/searchlist.asp?searchText=Garzoni&display=list] .References
*Getty Museum biography
*Grove Art Dictionary
** [http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/flowerartist.htm|National Gallery Art exhibition titled "The Flowering of Florence; Botanical art for the Medici".]
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