Elisabetta Sirani (Bologna 1638-1665)

First trained by her father, Giovanni Andrea Sirani, Elisabetta's draftsmanship is much indebted to Guido Reni's style and techniques, as attested clearly in this penetrating self portrait, executed when she was about twenty years old. Babette Bohn dates the drawing to ca. 1658, based on the artist’s features and the Reni-like character of her early chalk drawings. This sheet therefore pre-dates of about five years the Self-portrait of the artist painting her father in the Hermitage and painted ca. 1665. We are grateful to Babette Bohn for her assistance in cataloguing the present work and for confirming the attribution of the drawing after direct inspection.