ABSTRACT
Carlo Cesare Malvasia was one of the leading intellectuals of his day in the city of Bologna, where he lived for much of his life. His initial career was as a professor of law at the University of Bologna; however, in 1653 he earned a degree in theology, was ordained a priest, and later was named to the prestigious position of canon at the cathedral of Bologna. Malvasia barely mentions other important Bolognese women artists such as the legendary St. Caterina de’ Vigri and the more contemporary Antonia Pinelli Bertusio. Malvasia’s life story of the Bolognese painter Elisabetta Sirani is one of the most effusive accounts written about an artist, and thus can be difficult for the modern reader to take entirely seriously. Malvasia emphatically denies such claims, incorporating an anecdote which relates how Sirani’s studio was open to visitors so that they could be dazzled by her rapid and spirited execution, an important indicator of her mental agility.
