Giovanna Fratellini (1666 – 1731) was a Florentine artist during the

Baroque period 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 ...

. Born in

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 ...

as Giovanna Marrmocchini Cortesi, she married Guiliano Fratellini in 1685 and changed her name to Fratellini.Fortune, Jane, and Linda Falcone. ''Invisible Women:''. Florence: Florentine, 2010. Print. This well-born woman

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

list was a lady-in-waiting to

Vittoria della Rovere Vittoria della Rovere (7 February 1622 – 5 March 1694) was Grand Duchess of Tuscany as the wife of Grand Duke Ferdinando II. She had four children with her husband, two of whom would survive infancy: the future Cosimo III, Tuscany's longest- ...

, the Grand Duchess of

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

Training

Fratellini was trained in painting and music under the ducal auspices, before which she trained with

Livio Mehus Lieven Mehus or Livio Mehus (1630, in Oudenaarde – 7 August 1691, in Florence) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver of the Baroque period, who trained and worked in Italy. He was mainly active in Florence where he was court paint ...

and

Pietro Dandini Pietro Dandini (12 April 1646 – 26 November 1712) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Florence. Biography He is also called ''Pier Dandini''. He was the son (or nephew) and pupil of the painter Vincenzo Dandini. Pi ...

. Her works consist of oil, pastel, miniature enamel and

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...

.Jeffares, Neil, "Louis Vigée", ''Dictionary of pastellists before 1800'', London, 2006; online editio

accessed/update 01-24-2014/12-01-2013. She is primarily renowned for her portrait works but she also painted fables, bacchanals and historical subjects, such as the ''Death of Lucretia'' (untraced). After training in the art of miniature painting with the Capuchin monk-painter Ippolito Galantini (1627-1706) and pastels with the noted Domenico Tempesti (c.1655-1737), she polished her skills with

Anton Domenico Gabbiani Anton Domenico Gabbiani (13 February 1652 – 22 November 1726) was an Italian painter and active in a late Baroque style. Biography Born in Florence, Gabbiani first apprenticed with the Medici court portrait painter Justus Sustermans, then w ...

. Fratellini was accepted into Florence's Accademia del disegno in 1706 and elevated to full member in 1710.

Portraiture and commissions

Fratellini's portrait works were the means to her success and her sitters were considered the epitome of eightieth-century refinement."Pastels by Giovanna Fratellini." ''AWAF''. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <>. Her works depicted a model of both noble and virtuous eightieth-century refinement. Fratellini's depiction of Ceilia Pazzi (1720), part of her ‘child lady’ series, honors the young girls of noble birth in adult poses and adult features and characteristics. In addition to portraits, Fratellini is documented as a religious painter for Cosimo III. Prince Ferndinando commissioned several history and mythological pieces in pastel. Her commissioned works were invoiced and recorded as having received up to 15

scudi The ''scudo'' (pl. ''scudi'') was the name for a number of coins used in various states in the Italian peninsula until the 19th century. The name, like that of the French écu and the Spanish and Portuguese escudo, was derived from the Latin ''scu ...

for each completed portrait in pastel on paper. Violante Beatrix Von Bayern, governor of

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

and wife of Tuscany's hereditary prince Ferninando de’

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...

commissioned her to portray many of the ladies at the court. Fratellini accepted the task to commemorate the prominent circle of courtly ladies. Violante Beatrix sent Fratellini to

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

to portray Maria Klementyna Sobieska, the wife of the exiled

James Francis Edward Stuart James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs, was the son of King James II and VII of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his second wife, Mary of Modena. He was Prince of Wales from ...

. James Stuart later requested portraits of his sons. Following her stay in Bologna she traveled to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

to portray Violanta Beatrix's sister-in-law, Teresa Kunigunda Sobieska (1676-1730) and Maria Klementyna's aunt. Fratellini is frequently compared to the Venetian Painter

Rosalba Carriera Rosalba Carriera (12 January 1673 – 15 April 1757) was a Venetian Rococo painter. In her younger years, she specialized in portrait miniatures. Carriera would later become known for her pastel portraits, helping popularize the medium in eighte ...

(1675-1757). During her stay in Venice, she met Rosalba Carriera. Fratellini is noted as having great admiration for Carriera, who also extended her “gentillissime accoglienze,” or kind hospitality. Villa Petraia, a Medici villa that became the residence to the King of Italy during Florence's brief time as the Italian capital city during 1870 is located outside of Florence and is the home to some of Fratellini's best known works in pastel. Also many of her works are pending restoration or maintenance and can be found in the Uffizi’s deposits. A large number of her pastels that were commissioned by the Medici family are located there in the Uffizi’s portrait collection.

Teacher and mentor

The Tuscan artists welcomed her. Throughout Fratellini’s lifetime she shared her artistic expertise with several female painters, most notably, Maria Maddalena Gozzi Baldacci and Violante Beatrice Siries Cerroti, a Florentine painter who was named after the patroness and princess. Violante Beatrice Siries took Fratellini’s place as court painter after her death.

''Self-Portrait''

Fratellini’s self-portrait, depicting herself in the act of painting, “Self Portrait”, 1720 is in the Uffizi Gallery. It is displayed in the Vasari Corridor. Although she is shown holding oil paints and working on a miniature portrait painting, the work is completed in pastel. She portrays herself as an attractive and lively middle-aged woman. She is seen with energy and charm.Greer, Germaine. ''The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work''. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1979. Print. Fratellini's signature elements fluttering ribbons are spryly worn. In the painting she can be seen working on a portrait of her son Lorenzo Fratellini. Tragically, Lorenzo died two years before Fratellini. Along with her son, Lorenzo, Fratellini taught

Violante Beatrice Siries Violante Beatrice Siries (1709–1783) was an Italian painter. She was born in Florence and studied under Hyacinthe Rigaud and François Boucher in Paris from 1726. Returning later to Florence she married Giuseppe Cerroti and continued her artist ...

On television

The Emmy-winning PBS television documentary (June, 2013) ''Invisible Women, Forgotten Artists of Florence'', based on Dr. Jane Fortune's book by the same title,Theflorentinepress.com. The Florentine Press, n.d. Web. June 2013. . features a segment on Giovanna Fratellini as an example of women artists teaching other women in Baroque Florence.''Invisible Women: Forgotten Artists of Florence'' (documentary). 2012. WFYI Productions, producer Todd Gould. Indianapolis: Indiana. The television special, which spotlights the thousands of works by women in storage in Florence's museums including many of Fratellini's pastels and portraiture, reveals the ‘creative ties and artistic succession between artists Giovanna Fratellini, Violante Siries Cerroti and Anna Bacherini Piattoli.'

Training

Portraiture and commissions

Teacher and mentor

''Self-Portrait''

On television

References

Further reading