Giovanna Garzoni

Giovanna Garzoni

Giovanna Garzoni (born in 1600 in Ascoli Piceno in the Marche region and died in 1670 in Rome) is an Italian painter of the seventeenth century belonging to the Neapolitan school, specializing in still life.

Giovanna Garzoni's Biography

Giovanna Garzoni is an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Her particularity as a woman painter of the seventeenth century is that her themes are mainly decorative (still lifes of fruit, vegetables and flowers). She was trained by an unknown painter in her home town of Ascoli Piceno.

After a stay in Venice from 1625 to 1630, she quickly became successful and worked for the great courts of Italy. In Rome, she was in contact with the circle of Cassiano dal Pozzo and the Colonna, then in Naples in the service of the viceroy. In Turin, she was in the service of Victor-Amédée I of Savoy between 1632 and 1637.
Portrait of Victor-Amédée I of Savoy

 

She married the Venetian portraitist Tiberio Tinelli, with whom the marriage was tormented. He committed suicide in 1639.

She worked at the grand-ducal court in Florence from 1642 to 1651.

It is likely that she was influenced by the still lifes of Giovanni Battista Ruoppolo in Naples, and by her contemporaries Jacopo Ligozzi, present in the Grand Ducal collections, or Fede Galizia, also a painter.

She dedicated herself in particular to still life, but was also the author of botanical illustrations, small portraits, copies of paintings, favoring the technique of tempera on parchment and the small format. His technique of execution by small close touches is characteristic.

Still life with bowl of citron, tempera on canvas, (1640)

The Medici, Grand Duke Ferdinand II and his wife Vittoria della Rovere, her cousin Prince Lorenzo (1600-1648), and the cardinals Carlo, Giovancarlo and Leopoldo, were her great admirers, and the Florentine galleries preserve a considerable number of works by her.

Between 1650 and 1670 she executed twenty still life tableaus for Ferdinando II de' Medici for the Villa di Poggio Imperiale. Two of these are now in the Pitti Palace.

She returned to Rome in 1650 where she settled permanently, while continuing to maintain contacts with the Medici and to send her works.

In 1666, Garzoni bequeathed her entire estate to the Roman painting association Accademia di San Luca, on condition that she build her tomb in the church of Santi Luca e Martina. Her monumental tomb, the work of Mattia de Rossi, is to the right of the entrance.

Works of Giovanna Garzoni

  • Still life with bowl of lemons, tempera on canvas, (1640)
  • Portrait of Amedeo I of Savoy
  • Chinese Cup with Figs, Cherries, and Goldfinch, tempera on board, 26 × 37 cm, Palatine Gallery, Pitti Palace. From the Villa di Poggio Imperiale
  • Platter of Plums with Jasmine and Walnuts (1650-1570), tempera on parchment, 23 × 38 cm, Palatine Gallery, Pitti Palace, Florence. From the Villa di Poggio Imperiale.
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