"Giovanna Garzonni is considered to be one of the greatest Italian miniaturists of the seventeenth century. Born in 1600 in Ascoli Piceno, Garzonni's talent was first noticed when she apprenticed with a pharmacist in her home town. Her parents, Giacomo Garzoni and Isabetta Gaia both came from families of artisans but were not artists themselves. They could provide no training for their daughter, as was typical for many women artists of the period. Instead, Garzoni received her training from Giacomo Rogni, as explained in a letter written by the artist in 1620. In 1622, Giovanna married the Venecian artist Tibero Tinelli, but the marriage only lasted for 2 years, due in large part to her vow of chastity. When the artist was 30, she moved from Venice to Naples with her brother, and painted numerous miniatures for her patron, the Spanish Duke of Alcalà. In letters she professes to being unhappy in Naples, preferring to work and die in Rome. When the Duke of Alcalà returned to Spain, Garzoni used the opportunity to accept the invitation of the Duke of Savoy to move to Turin. She worked in Turin for 5 years but the commencement of the War of the Two Ladies forced her to leave. During the 1640s, the artist moved to Florence and became the official miniaturist to the Medici Court, painting numerous still-lifes for the Grand Duke Ferdinando II de Medici. By 1654, the artist settled in Rome where she renewed her activity with the Accademia di San Luca, an association of artists founded in 1593. Although it was not customary to admit women to the organization, records show that she enjoyed many of the same benefits as male members (including cakes brought to her when she was ill) and had the honor of being buried in their church, Santi Luca e Martina. While Garzoni earned fame during her lifetime for her miniatures, only a few examples of those survive. It is her carefully rendered watercolor still..." http://clara.nmwa.org/index.php?g=entity_detail_print&entity_id=2948 undefined

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