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    GAI/LERY OF X!LI,TTSTIIIOITS ITALIAN WOM...

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    Ii.—Female Aetists. By An" Itaxi-Ajst.

    access to Elizabeth . ' s studio , and one day , in the presence of the Duchess of Brunswickthe Duchess of MirandolaCosimoDuke of

    , , _, Tuscany , and others , she drew and shaded subjects chosen by each , with such promptitude that the incredulous were confounded . The

    same thing * is recorded of her large picture , the Baptism of Jesue * hardly had she received the commission before she had sketched

    on the canvass the entire conception of that memorable incident , including" many and various figures ; and with equal rapidity

    the work was completed . This was in 1658 , when only twenty years of age ; she drew her own portrait , in the person of one of

    the Saints , looking up to Heaven . Among her best works may bo reckoned two full length portraits of the Countess Laura Calderini ,

    the Countess Elisabetta Bianchetti , and a half length figure of the Count Kanuzzi . In the mansion of the Hercolani in Bologna is her

    own portrait , taken in the act of painting her father . Among her paintings on copperwhich are exquisitely delicate , is a Lot ,

    , With his children , now in the possession of the family of Malvezzi-Medici in Bologna . There is also a S . Sebastian tended by S _,

    Irene , in the Altieri gallery in Eome . Elizabeth cultivated the art of engraving with equal success , and produced etchings

    of the Beheading of John the Baptist , the Death of Lucrezia _* the Madonna dei Dolori , and a S . Eustachio , the two last being

    master-pieces in their way . There are others , noted in the catalogue , which she left in her own hand-writingand all her

    , works are distinguished by delicacy of touch , and by ease and spirit in the execution . Besides her own sisters , Elizabeth educated in

    the career of art Veronica Franchi , Vineenza Scalfalia , and Ginevra Cantafoli , by whom , says Crespi , " there are some beautiful pictures

    still existing in some of the churches of Bologna . " ( 32 ) While Elizabeth was yet a child , several female artists obtained

    considerable celebrity , and among them Artemisia Gentileschi of Tuscanywho followed so faithfully in the footsteps of her master ,

    Guido Reni , , that many have- thought that some of her pictures received the finishing stroke from his hand . She was the daughter

    of Orazio , whose picture of David standing over the dead Goliath , painted for the Cambiaso family in Genoa , alone suffices to establish

    his talent as an artist . Artemisia resided some time at Naples , and there married Pierantonio Schiattesi . Later she came to

    England with her father , and acquired great renown as a portrait painter ; indeed to such excellence did she attain iii this branch of

    art as to ' fall little short of perfection . Several of the portraits of the royal family , and many of the English nobility , are , according to

    Pilkington , the work of Artemisia . ( 38 ) She also succeeded in his-( £ 33 32 ) } Yite " In Hampton dei Pitt . Bolognesi court is her , p . own 74 . portraitainted bherselfpowerful

    collection and vivid , "— in Wdgen the style " of She Mi excelled chel Angelo her , father and , p in another portraits y in the Her George , own is IY at .

    Althorp Jainieson , and . notes another a second , in -p the icture collection in Hampton of King court James , " Head II . " of — . Wal a Siby pole l , " . whicil Mrs .

    she says is _^ very inferior to her own portrait . vox . ii . ' s

    Gai/Lery Of X!Li,Ttstiiioits Italian Wom...

    GAI / LERY OF X _! LI _, TTSTIIIOITS ITALIAN WOME _^ _T . 233

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1858, page 233, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121858/page/17/