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Source Description
Garzoni was one of the few women artists to achieve prominence in Italy during the 1600s. She garnered fame with her naturalistic still lifes on vellum, which combined scientific accuracy with sensitive artistry. Here, three small goldfinches on fruit branches and a larger bee-eater are dispersed across an earth-toned ground. The goldfinches sit on branches from which hang two plums (left), a peach (center), and a pear (right). A yellow quince and purple fig appear in the left foreground. Garzoni’s refined interpretations of the natural world suited the taste of aristocratic patrons like the Medici family, who acquired her drawings to decorate their villas.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
132616
label
Still Life with Birds and Fruit
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
132616
contentType
drawing
title
Still Life with Birds and Fruit
description
Garzoni was one of the few women artists to achieve prominence in Italy during the 1600s. She garnered fame with her naturalistic still lifes on vellum, which combined scientific accuracy with sensitive artistry. Here, three small goldfinches on fruit branches and a larger bee-eater are dispersed across an earth-toned ground. The goldfinches sit on branches from which hang two plums (left), a peach (center), and a pear (right). A yellow quince and purple fig appear in the left foreground. Garzoni’s refined interpretations of the natural world suited the taste of aristocratic patrons like the Medici family, who acquired her drawings to decorate their villas.
date
c. 1650
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80024674
creators
11930
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 25.7 x 41.6 cm (10 1/8 x 16 3/8 in.)
cul
Italy
accession
1955.14
Source extras
tec
watercolor with graphite, heightened with lead white
tombstone
Still Life with Birds and Fruit, c. 1650. Giovanna Garzoni (Italian, 1600–1670). Watercolor with graphite, heightened with lead white; sheet: 25.7 x 41.6 cm (10 1/8 x 16 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Mrs. Elma M. Schniewind in memory of her parents Mr. and Mrs. Frank Geib, 1955.140
supportMaterials
description
vellum
collection
DR - Italian
didYouKnow
Giovanna Garzoni was one of just a few women artists to rise to prominence in Italy in the 1600s.
citations
citation
Bacci, Mina, "Jacopo Ligozzi e la Sua Posizione Nella Pittura Fiorentina," Proporzioni Vol. IV (1963):
page_number
pp. 53, 77, under no. 20, fig. 5 (as Jacopo Ligozzi)
citation
Palazzo reale (Naples, Italy). La Natura morta italiana. Milano: Alfieri & Lacroix, 1964.
page_number
p. 28, under no. 17
citation
Columbia University, and Joan Nissman. Florentine Baroque Art from American Collections. 1969.
page_number
no. 36, pp. 42-42, fig. 18
citation
Harris, Ann Sutherland, and Linda Nochlin. Women Artists, 1550-1950. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976.
page_number
no. 21, p. 136
citation
Ciardi, Roberto Paolo, and Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi. Immagini anatomiche e naturalistiche nei disegni degli Uffizi, secc. XVI e XVII. Firenze: L.S. Olschki, 1984.
page_number
p. 64
citation
Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi (Florence, Italy), and Comitato Raffaello e Seicento fiorentino. Il Seicento fiorentino: arte a Firenze da Ferdinando I a Cosimo III : Palazzo Strozzi 21 dicembre 1986/4 maggio 1987. Firenze: Cantini, 1986.
page_number
p. 459, under no. 1.259
citation
Casale, Gerardo, Giovanna Garzoni, and Paola Lanzara. Giovanna Garzoni: "insigne miniatrice," 1600-1670. Milano: Jandi Sapi, 1991.
page_number
no. a35 (as after Giovanna Garzoni), pp. 30, 45 (illus), 47, 90
citation
Piland, Sherry, and Donna G. Bachmann. Women Artists: An Historical, Contemporary, and Feminist Bibliography. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1994.
page_number
p. 77 (illus)
citation
Trinity Fine Art Ltd, "An Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, Prints, and Paintings," 6 May-15 May, 1998.
page_number
p. 36, under no. 16
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: cat. no. 19, pp. 58-59, pp. 285-86; Reproduced: p. 59
citation
Meloni Trkulja, Silvia, Elena Fumagalli, and Giovanna Garzoni. Still lifes, Giovanna Garzoni = Giovanna Garzoni, Stilleben = Natures mortes, Giovanna Garzoni. 2000.
page_number
pp. 50-51 (illus).
citation
Tongiorgi Tomasi, Lucia, and Gretchen A. Hirschauer. The Flowering of Florence: Botanical Art for the Medici. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2002.
page_number
cat. no. 56, p. 89
citation
Palter, Robert. The Duchess of Malfi's Apricots, and Other Literary Fruits. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2002.
page_number
fig. 10, p. 73
citation
Kehlenbeck,Gerhard, Thomas le Claire,and Karoline von Kügelgen. Master Drawings NO. 26 (Hamburg : Le Claire Kunst, 2010).
page_number
cat. no. 6.
citation
Lanthony, Philippe. A Natural History of Colour Vision. 2012.
page_number
p. 32
citation
Garrard, Mary D. "The Not-So-Still Lifes of Giovanna Garzoni." In "<em>The Immensity of the Universe" in the Art of Giovanna Garzoni.</em> Sheila Barker, ed., 62-77. Livorno: Sillabe, 2020.
page_number
Mentioned: P. 71; reproduced: P. 14-15, 73, fig. 10
citation
Caffi, Margherita, Gianluca Bocchi, and Ulisse Bocchi. Margherita Caffi e l'atelier dei Vicenzini. 2022.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 17, p.34 note 40; reproduced: p. 41, VV.4a
citation
Banta, Andaleeb Badiee, Alexa Greist, and Theresa Kutasz Christensen. <em>Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800</em>. Fredericton, New Brunswick : Goose Lane Editions ; Toronto, Ontario : AGO ; Baltimore, Maryland : Baltimore Museum of Art, 2023.
page_number
Mentioned, pp. 109, 226, illus. (detail), p. 109, fig. 3, cat. 155, p. 227, illus., p. 227
creditline
Bequest of Mrs. Elma M. Schniewind in memory of her parents Mr. and Mrs. Frank Geib
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:49:50.767000
sourceId
132616
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - Italian
med
watercolor with graphite, heightened with lead white
creatorTags
female
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
2ec7ee65e9246bbc