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Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
ELISABETTA SIRANI Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and Saint John the Baptist.
Etching, circa 1650. 300x223 mm; 12x9 inches, small margins. Second state (of 2). Rampant lion watermark (Heawood 3130 and 3131; which he dates to Florence in the mid-1640s). A brilliant, richly-inked impression of this very scarce etching, with strong contrasts and with the delicate vertical wiping scratches distinct, consistent with the earliest impressions of this subject.
Provenance: John Barnard, London (Lugt 1419, verso).
Sirani (1638-1665) was an Italian Baroque painter-printmaker, born and trained in Bologna. Her father, the painter Giovanni Andrea Sirani, was a pupil of Guido Reni as well as an art trader. Sirani is important for the significant body of work she created over such a short-lived career (more than 200 paintings, 15 etchings and hundreds of drawings) as well as her success as an artist at a time when it was generally frowned on as a profession for women. According to a recent study, "Her patrons ranged from cardinals to kings, princes, dukes, merchants and academics from Bologna and across Europe. Sirani became a celebrity in her city as visitors, such as diplomats, political leaders and noblemen, would come to her studio to watch her work," (Modesti, Elisabetta Sirani: una virtuosa del Seicento bolognese, Bologna, 2004). Bartsch 8; Bertelà/Ferrara 923.
