Une Sibylle

8 gennaio 1638

Born

by 1654

Takes over the family workshop

By 1654 her father is incapacitated by gout and can no longer work, and Elisabetta takes over the running of the workshop: she becomes the family’s main breadwinner, living on teaching fees and portrait commissions. The studio thrives, helped by the progressive atmosphere of Bologna, where women artists were accepted and celebrated; her sisters Barbara and Anna Maria serve as her assistants.

28 February 1657

First major public commission

At nineteen she receives her first major public commission, from Daniele Granchi, prior of the Carthusian church of the Certosa di Bologna; she will go on to paint at least thirteen public altarpieces.

1660

Opens a painting school for women

She opens a school — the first school of painting for women in Europe outside a convent, open regardless of the women’s artistic and social connections; besides her younger sisters Barbara and Anna Maria she trains at least twelve young women, among them the wood-engraver Veronica Fontana, Caterina Pepoli, Maria Elena Panzacchi, Camelia Lanteri, Lucretia Forni, Veronica Franchi and Ginevra Cantofoli, who was portrayed as Sirani’s rival.

1665

Sudden illness and suspicions of poisoning

She falls suddenly ill; only days earlier the maidservant Lucia Tolomelli had asked to leave the family’s service, and suspicion of poisoning fell on her, though the charges were soon withdrawn. The likely cause is peritonitis after a ruptured ulcer, perhaps brought on by the strain of providing for the whole household.