Giovanna Fratellini

Self-portrait, 1720

Giovanna Fratellini (1666 – 18 April 1731) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in Florence, mainly painting small miniature portraits.

Initially, a "lady-in-waiting" for a Grand Duchess dowager of Tuscany, Vittoria della Rovere, she was noted to have a skill at drawing and tutored under a mediocre Capuchin monk and painter, Ippolito Galantini. She is also said to have had instruction by Livio Mehus, Pietro Dandini, Domenico Tempesti, and Anton Domenico Gabbiani. She was active in the court of Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Born the daughter of Giovanni Marmocchini, she married at age 18, Giuliano Fratellini. She gained renown among aristocratic circles for her ability to paint, with celerity, miniature enamel portraits. These were used as portable mementos that could be carried in lockets. She was in the past compared with Rosalba Carriera, who gained fame with her ability to rapidly complete somewhat sugary, pastel portrait busts of sitters. The painter Violante Beatrice Siries (1709–1783) was her pupil.

References

• An Enamelled Portrait by Giovanna Fratellini, Marvin Chauncey Ross. The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 89, No. 536 (Nov., 1947), pp. 314+316-317
• Grove Encyclopedia of Art, abstract.
• Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits, Frances Borzello, p.62.