New Acquisitions by 17th century artist Elisabetta Sirani
February 22, 2018
The McMaster Museum of Art has acquired two etchings by 17th century Italian artist Elisabetta Sirani (1638 – 1665).
These etchings expand and enhance McMaster Museum of Art’s collection in three important ways:
- Adding to the MMA’s Italian Baroque holdings, to date represented by a Guido Reni drawing, 6 Salvator Rosa etchings, and a woodcut by an unknown artist.
- Adding to the representation of historical work by European women artists.
- Expanding the collection’s “the Holy Family” subject matter, a persistent theme in European art, represented to date in the collection by Van Aelst, Durer, Tiepolo and Pechstein works. The Sirani Holy Family etching offers particularly strong instructional value and exhibition opportunities.
Only one other Sirani work has been identified in a Canadian public collection, a c.1664-65 pen and ink drawing in the National Gallery of Canada, purchased in 1956.
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c.1655-65, Etching 16.1 x 17.5 cm, Collection of McMaster Museum of Art, Museum of Art Collection Trust
Serendipitously, the crates arrived at McMaster Museum of Art on the same day that Regina Haggo was visiting. Haggo, an art historian, public speaker, and former professor of art history in New Zealand writes a weekly column about art for the Hamilton Spectator. Her story about the artist and our acquisitions was published last week. Read it here.
ABOUT ELISABETTA SIRANI
Elisabetta Sirani (1638-1665) was an Italian Baroque painter and printmaker and highly successful artist of her time. Her father, the painter and art teacher Giovanni Andrea Sirani, was a follower of renowned Bolognese artist Guido Reni (Italian, 1575-1642).
The Emperor’s Soldiers Taking Away the Library of the Cardinal of Bologna, Pen and brown ink, brown wash, black chalk on sepia coloured, lightly textured rag paper with Barberini arms watermark. Levy Bequest Purchase. McMaster Museum of Art Collection
By age 19, Elisabetta Sirani was running her father’s workshop in Bologna and supporting the family through her art commissions. Her reputation for rapidly painting beautiful canvases drew visitors to her studio. They wanted to watch her painting in action, by some accounts to ensure that she wasn’t having others do the painting for her. She had numerous wealthy and influential patrons including the Grand Duke Cosimo III de Medici.
Before her early death at age 27, she produced approximately 200 paintings and 15 etchings. Furthermore, her many pupils included more than a dozen young women who went on to become professional artists themselves. A significant legacy.
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