A hedgehog in a landscape

The rediscovery of Giovanna Garzoni can be traced back to the great exhibition of Italian still life paintings held in Naples, Rotterdam and Zurich in 1964. Since that date, the research of many scholars has uncovered the well-documented life of an outstanding woman artist whose works were prized at the courts of Florence, Naples, Rome, Turin, and beyond the Alps to France. Born to a modest family of Venetians temporarily resident in Ascoli Piceno, Garzoni maintained her independence, moving restlessly between far flung cities until finally settling in 1651 in Rome, where, a successful painter of repute, she lived out her long life. She was greatly attached to the activities of the Accademia di San Luca to which she bequeathed her estate. In gratitude, the academicians erected a commemorative monument with her portrait in their church of SS. Luca e Martina.

Dottore Gerardo Casale has confirmed the attribution to Garzoni on the basis of a transparency (written communication, 20 February 2007). He remarks that it is a work of fine quality and dates it to Garzoni's Florentine period circa 1643-1651.