Giovanna Garzoni (1600–1670) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. She began her career painting religious, mythological, and allegorical subjects but gained fame for her botanical subjects painted in tempera and watercolour. Her works were praised for their precision and balance and for the exactitude of the objects depicted. More recently, her paintings have been seen to have female bodily associations and proto-feminist sentiments. She combined objects very inventively, including Asian porcelain, exotic seashells, and botanical specimens. She was often called the Chaste Giovanna due to her vow to remain a virgin. Scholars have speculated Garzoni may have been influenced by fellow botanical painter Jacopo Ligozzi although details about Garzoni's training are unknown.
Giovanna Garzoni, self-portrait
Still Life with Bowl of Citrons, late 1640s, now in J. Paul Getty Museum.
Taffeta antependium embroidered in silk with flowers around central medallion of God in splendour, 1640-1650. Uffizi Gallery.
Plate with White Beans, ca. 1650–1662. Gouache on parchment. Galleria Paletina, Florence.
Fede Galizia, better known as Galizia, was an Italian painter of still-lifes, portraits, and religious pictures. She is especially noted as a painter of still-lifes of fruit, a genre in which she was one of the earliest practitioners in European art. She is perhaps not as well known as other female artists, such as Angelica Kauffman and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, because she did not have access to court-oriented or aristocratic social circles, nor had she sought the particular patronage of political rulers and noblemen.
Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1596). The figure of Judith is believed to be a self-portrait.
Fede Galizia White Ceramic Bowl with Peaches and Red and Blue Plums
Portrait of Paolo Morigia (1592–1596)
Close-up of reflection in the glass lenses of Portrait of Paolo Morigia (1596)