Barbara Longhi

Date of birth
1552
Place of birth
Ravenna, Italy
Date of death
1638
Place of death
Ravenna, Italy
Nationality
Italian
Biography

BIOGRAPHY


Barbara Longhi was born in Ravenna, Italy in 1552 and lived her whole life in the city. She received her artistic training from her father, Luca Longhi, and was considered a to be a precocious talent and in 1568 (when Longhi was only 16 years old) renowned artist­–writer Giorgio Vasari when writing of Luca Longhi noted ‘nor should I fail to mention a young daughter of his, still a young maiden, by the name of Barbera [sic], who draws very well, and who has begun to paint with considerable grace and style’ (Vasari, Lives of the artists, VII, 421).

 

Longhi painted very few larger works during her career and today her extant oeuvre includes primarily devotional canvases for domestic use – the Madonna reading to, holding and nursing the Christ Child. Little is known of Longhi’s life and the extent of her artistic output remains unknown since her works have traditionally been misattributed to her father and other artists of the period.


Tansy Curtin, Curator of International Art, Pre-1980