Arcangela Paladini (or Arcangiola Palladini) (

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

1599 –

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

1622) was an Italian painter, singer and poet.

Early life and education

Arcangela Paladini - Self-portrait in Uffizi Gallery

Arcangela Paladini was the daughter of Florentine painter Filippo Paladini (1544–1616), and a pupil of

Alessandro Allori Alessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino Allori (Florence, 31 May 153522 September 1607) was an Italian painter of the late Mannerist Florentine school. Biography In 1540, after the death of his father, Allori was brought up and trai ...

(1535-1607). Paladini was a contemporary of

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

painter

Artemisia Gentileschi Artemisia Lomi or Artemisia Gentileschi (, ; 8 July 1593) was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished seventeenth-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing profess ...

(1593–1656). She may have served as the model for an image of

Saint Cecilia Saint Cecilia ( la, Sancta Caecilia), also spelled Cecelia, was a Roman virgin martyr and is venerated in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox, Anglican Communion, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden. She b ...

, the patron saint of music, painted by Artemisia. Paladini was already an accomplished artist by the time she turned 15. After moving from Pisa to Florence in 1615, she began working under acclaimed

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

painter

Jacopo Ligozzi Jacopo Ligozzi (1547–1627) was an Italian painter, illustrator, designer, and miniaturist. His art can be categorized as late-Renaissance and Mannerist styles. Biography Born in Verona, he was the son of the artist Giovanni Ermano Ligozzi ...

Career

Arcangela Paladini was proficient in many artistic areas, such as singing, writing poetry, and painting, as well as other areas. She was skilled in these areas by the age of 15. In addition to being a skilled painter, she also created embroidered works, such as portraits and images of flowers, foliage, and various types of wildlife. Although only one of her works has been identified, there are descriptions of her portraits of the Grand Duke Cosimo II in the Medici inventories, as well as evidence of Maria Maddelena's spreading of her work throughout the continent . The descriptions describe both pen-and-ink portraits and embroidered portraits of Cosimo II. In 1621, she was commissioned to create her self portrait that was to eventually be displayed in the

Vasari Corridor The Vasari Corridor ( it, Corridoio Vasariano) is an elevated enclosed passageway in Florence, central Italy, connecting the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti. Beginning on the south side of the Palazzo Vecchio, it joins the Uffizi Galle ...

Relationship with the Medici Dynasty

She initially lived in the monastery of

Saint Agatha Agatha of Sicily () is a Christian saint. Her feast is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania, part of the Roman Province of Sicily, and was martyred . She is one of several virgin martyrs who are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mas ...

, where she was supported by the Grand Duchess

Maria Maddalena de' Medici Maria Maddalena de' Medici (29 June 1600 – 28 December 1633) was a Tuscan princess, the eighth daughter of Ferdinando I and Christina of Lorraine, making her the sister of Cosimo II. Life Born disabled, she was christened at the age of nine ...

, who later became her main benefactor. At age 17, at the suggestion of the Grand Duchess, Paladini married Antwerp-born tapestry-maker Jan Broomans. The Grand Duchess also invited Paladini to serve her at court, and introduced her to her husband Grand Duke Cosimo II. In 1621, Paladini painted a self-portrait for Maria Maddalena, who displayed the painting in her own room. The portrait was later added to the collection displayed in the

and was restored in 1967. It is the only painting currently identified by the artist, though there are inventories of other works recorded.

Death

Paladini died at the age of 23 (six years after her marriage) in Florence in 1622 and was buried in the church of Santa Felicità where the Grand Duchess commissioned a tomb memorial, a rare honor. The tomb was sculpted by Agostino Bugiardini and Antonio Novelli. The epitaph compares Paladini to the goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

and the painter Apelles.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paladini, Arcangela 1599 births 1622 deaths Italian women painters 17th-century Italian painters 17th-century Italian women artists