Lioness with an Open Eye

Like many artists of her time, Giovanna Garzoni, one of my favorite Baroque painters, copied drawings and paintings by other artists and often added a little touch of originality in the subject’s gesture or expression. Today we show Garzoni’s copy of a sheet of sketches of animals and landscapes by Albrecht Dürer—presumably in the collection of Inigo Jones and copied when Giovanna was in England. A sleeping lioness depicted in the Dürer drawings was exactly copied by Garzoni, with small but amusing variants: Garzoni emphasizes the lioness’s one open eye and deepens the lines of her mouth into a quasi-smile. 

Garzoni is a good name to remember during Women's History Month. After serving the Medici Court, she decided to settle in Rome in 1651 where she continued producing work for the Florentine Court. She attended the famous Accademia di San Luca, where she followed events and discussion aimed at educating, socializing, and professionalizing painters, architects, and sculptors of Rome. It is noted by several historians that Garzoni's pieces were well received by the public; she was able to ask any price for her paintings.

P.S. Here are four female court painters that you didn't know (until now).  :D

P.P.S. Garzoni with her amazing lemons is featured in our Women Artists Notebook.  :)