Unfinished

The Inspired Life of Elisabetta Sirani

De: Kelly Evans

Narrado por: Deryn Oliver

They called her La Maestra. Elisabetta Sirani was a talented and prolific artist in 17th century Italy. Trained by her father, she was running his studio by the time she was 16, and earned her first official commission the following year.

Over her short career, she produced more than 200 paintings, etchings, and prints, had patrons that included royalty and noble Italian families, and founded one of the first art schools in Europe exclusively for women.

When she died at only 27 of a mysterious ailment, all of Bologna mourned. Her fame has been eclipsed by her male counterparts, and her work often claimed as theirs. Doubted, scorned, admired, copied, and misunderstood, this is her story.

©2022 Kelly Evans (P)2023 Kelly Evans

She-vastating and Worthy

I’m both heartbroken to learn of Elisabeth Sirani’s story and absolutely delighted to know of her, I so enjoyed this offering of Herstory and am thankful to the author for her work in telling it to us, and in such a way that I was just lost in it. and I think this may be her best work yet (keep it coming, Kelly!).

Did you know of the talented and tragic Female master painter? Whether you did or not, this story helps the reader see her in a delightfully human light, complete with emotional imaginings of her loves and longing, her fights and disappointments, her day-to-day, and her utter lack of understanding of her dire condition. I find it very plausible, how the condition arose from her life and choices and the choices of those who
Should have done better by her. Thank goodness for the others who did, and that we have access to her paintings. I was mesmerized.