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{{Short description|Italian artist (1590–1660)}}
{{Infobox artist
{{Infobox artist
| bgcolour = #EEDD82
| name = Caterina Ginnasi
| name = Caterina Ginnasi
| image =
| image =
| caption =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1590
| birth_date = 1590
| birth_place = [[Rome]]
⚫
| death_date = {{death date and age|1660|11|30|1590|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Rome]]
| death_place = [[Rome]]
⚫
| death_date = {{death date|1660|11|30|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Rome]]
| nationality = [[Italy|Italian]]
| nationality = [[Italy|Italian]]
| known_for = [[Painting]]
| field = [[Painting]]
| movement = [[Baroque]]
| notable_works =
| movement = [[Baroque]]
| works =
}}
}}
'''Caterina Ginnasi''' (1590 – 30 November 1660) was an [[Italy|Italian]] painter of the [[Baroque]] period, active mainly in [[Rome]].
'''Caterina Ginnasi''' (1590 – 30 November 1660) was an Italian noblewoman and painter of the [[Baroque]] period, active mainly in [[Rome]].


Ginnasi was orphaned under a young age, and placed in the care of her uncle, [[Cardinal Domenico Ginnasi]], who was the dean of the Holy College in Rome. He had arranged for her to marry a cousin, but she chose to remain single and dedicated herself to painting. She started training under the painter [[Gaspare Celio]], and then under [[Giovanni Lanfranco]].<ref>Passeri, page 306</ref> She was a contemporary of [[Giovanna Garzoni]].
Ginnasi was orphaned under a young age, and placed in the care of her uncle, [[Cardinal Domenico Ginnasi]], who was the dean of the Holy College in Rome. He had arranged for her to marry a cousin, but she refused to consent and chose instead to remain single and dedicate herself to a spiritual and devotional life.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Trinchieri|first=Camiz|title=Picturing Women in Renaissance and Baroque Italy|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1997|editor-last=Johnson|editor-first=Geraldine A.|pages=159–163|chapter="Virgo-non Sterilis..." Nuns as Artists in Seventeenth-Century Rome|editor-last2=Matthews Grieco|editor-first2=Sara F.}}</ref> Although she never became a nun she lived like one and was close friends with other Roman noblewomen nuns.<ref name=":0" /> When her talent was recognised, she started training under the painter [[Gaspare Celio]], and then under [[Giovanni Lanfranco]] until 1634.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Passeri|title=Vite de'pittori, scultori ed architetti che anno lavorato in Roma|pages=306}}</ref> Lanfranco had painted a [[Pentecost]] scene in oil on the ceiling of the gallery for Cardinal Ginnasi in the Palazzo Ginnasi between 1629 and 1632.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Grandi|first=Paolo|title=Caterina Ginnasi (1590 – 1660) Pittrice, Due dipinti ritrovati|url=http://www.castelbolognese.org/biografie-personaggi/personaggi/caterina-ginnasi-1590-1660/|url-status=live|access-date=3 September 2021|website=La Storia di Castel Bolognese|date=10 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624114334/http://www.castelbolognese.org/biografie-personaggi/personaggi/caterina-ginnasi-1590-1660/ |archive-date=2016-06-24 }}</ref>


== Career as an artist ==
[[image:Domenicoginnasi.gif|thumb|left|150px|Cardinal Ginnasi, attributed to Caterina Ginnasi]]


Caterina was the only woman included in [[Giovanni Battista Passeri|Giovanni Battista Passeri's]] biography of contemporary artists and was one of a few women to become a member of the [[Accademia di San Luca]].<ref name=":0" /> Passeri praised Caterina for her dedication to studying drawing and painting, rather than the usual women's pastimes of sewing.<ref name=":0" /> Her uncle Cardinal Ginnasi appreciated and encouraged her work; he displayed four of her paintings amongst works by [[Titian]] and [[Guido Reni]] in his gallery: a [[Catherine of Alexandria|St Catherine]] with the wheel; an [[Assumption of Mary|Assumption]] of the Virgin; St [[Michael (archangel)|Michael Archangel]] and a Virgin with Velletri's protector saints.<ref name=":0" /> He also asked her to paint [[altarpiece]]s for the church of Santa Lucia alle Botteghe Oscure in Rome and for his chapel in the cathedral of [[Velletri]] (now lost).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
Her success in Rome was mainly limited to religious [[altarpiece]]s. She painted a ‘''Guardian angel'' (now lost) for the church of ''dell'Angelo Custode''. The majority of her works, however, were completed for the church ''Santa Lucia alle Botteghe Oscure'', that had been restored under her uncle’s [[patronage]].<ref>Passeri, Page 306</ref> After Cardinal Domenico’s death, she was endowed to help establish a [[convent]] of nuns of an order of St. Teresa at the adjacent site of the family palace, Palazzo Ginnasi.


Caterina's success in Rome was due to these religious [[altarpiece]]s. The majority of her works were completed for the church of Santa Lucia alle Botteghe Oscure that had been rebuilt in 1630 under her uncle's [[patronage]]; the church was destroyed in 1936, her altarpiece of the [[martyrdom]] of [[Saint Lucy]] and a lunette of the [[Last Supper]] (cut down from an altarpiece) are visible in a surviving photograph of the church; the altarpiece and lunette are now in the chapel and sacristy of the present Palazzo Ginnasi.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> The Saint Lucy altarpiece was designed by Lanfranco.<ref name=":0" /> Caterina also painted a small oval of the Virgin for this church, as well as an altarpiece of Saint Blaise healing a boy, whose face is said to be modelled on Cardinal Ginnasi.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
Ginnasi resided in this convent of Santa Lucia until her death. Like her family, she was interred there;<ref>Passeri, Page 309</ref> however, in 1938 this church and convent were torn down during enlargement of the Via delle Botteghe Oscure. A portal from the church now stands in building owned by the [[Maestre Pie Filippini]], a [[Catholicism|Catholic]] religious organization.<ref>Castelbolognese Site</ref> The Baroque funerary monuments of the family which were in S. Lucia were transferred to a modern chapel inside the modern rebuilt ‘’Palazzo Ginassi’’,<ref>Palazzo Ginnasi, Largo dei Ginnasi (Centro Storico), Largo di Santa Lucia Filippini, 5</ref> which sports the coat of arms that once stood on the [[façade]] of the old palace.


For the chapel in Velletri, Caterina painted a large altarpiece of the Virgin and Velletri's Four Protector Saints; two side paintings of saints; four corner Evangelists and the chapel's dome; these have been destroyed or repainted.<ref name=":0" /> She also painted the main altarpiece for the church of SS. dell'Angeli Custodi (demolished in 1928-1929 for the Via del Tritone) depicting a guardian angel leading a boy to Paradise away from Hell (now lost).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Passeri|title=Vite de'pittori, scultori ed architetti che anno lavorato in Roma|pages=308}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> A painting of Saint Joseph (untraced) was also recorded in Rome in 1925.<ref name=":1" /> A [[Nativity of Jesus|Nativity]] and [[Pietà|Pieta]] were also recorded in an 18th-century collection.<ref name=":1" /> A portrait of Cardinal Ginnasi in the Podestà-Lucciardi Collection, Sarzana, has been attributed to Caterina; along with an oval version previously in the Castel Bolognese.<ref name=":1" />
The modern chapel inside this building contain the only identified works of Caterina Ginnasi, including the altarpiece of the ''Martyrdom of St Lucy'', and the lunette with a ''Last Supper'' in the [[sacristy]]. Among its funereal monument inscriptions, the one for Caterina harkens to a morbid post-reformation focus on the afterlife; the inscription can be translated as:

== Patronage ==
In 1637, Caterina persuaded her uncle Cardinal Ginnasi to found a convent of Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Corpus Domini which was built inside the family palace, Palazzo Ginnasi, and attached to the church of Santa Lucia alle Botteghe Oscure.<ref name=":0" /> The convent was run by Caterina and her mother, Faustina Gottardi.<ref name=":0" /> Caterina owned many religious images, particularly of Saint Catherine, relics, statuettes and wax images as well as objects believed to be magical.<ref name=":0" /> At his death in 1639, her uncle left her a large dowry which she invested and doubled in worth.<ref name=":0" /> She commissioned a tomb for her uncle from [[Giuliano Finelli]].<ref name=":0" />

== Legacy ==
Like her family, Caterina was interred in the church of S Lucia;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Passeri|title=Vite de'pittori, scultori ed architetti che anno lavorato in Roma|pages=309}}</ref> however, in 1938 this church and convent were torn down during enlargement of the Via delle Botteghe Oscure.<ref name=":1" /> The Baroque funerary monuments of the family were transferred to a modern chapel inside the modern rebuilt Palazzo Ginassi.<ref name=":1" /> Caterina's inscription is translated as:


''Caterina Ginnasi, nephew of Cardinal Ginnasi, because of her fruitful virtue, mother of the poor and married yet barren. She did not use the money on earth to purchase the profits from Heaven, but proferred it in charity towards all. In furnishings, in victuals, in lodging: in all, she only sought suffering for herself; and to live after death, she lived as if her residence were but a tomb. In the early morning in winter while attending the sacred functions, spurred by the heat of her divine love, she contracted a cold, and for this, she died, but her charity will never die''.<ref>Pauperum mater et virgo/Non sterilis, quia fecunda virtutum./Pecuniae usum non habuit in terris,/Ut usufructum haberet in coelo/Charitate in omnes profuse/In lecto, in mensa, in domo, in omnibus/Sibi quaesivit angustias,/Ut mortua viveret, vixit ut mortua/Usa est magis aedibus pro sepulchro/Summo mane in hyeme/Sacris intererat/Hinc propter aestum divini amoris/Contraxit e frigore morbum,/Et mortem sed charitas nunquam excidit</ref>
''Caterina Ginnasi, nephew of Cardinal Ginnasi, because of her fruitful virtue, mother of the poor and married yet barren. She did not use the money on earth to purchase the profits from Heaven, but proferred it in charity towards all. In furnishings, in victuals, in lodging: in all, she only sought suffering for herself; and to live after death, she lived as if her residence were but a tomb. In the early morning in winter while attending the sacred functions, spurred by the heat of her divine love, she contracted a cold, and for this, she died, but her charity will never die''.<ref>Pauperum mater et virgo/Non sterilis, quia fecunda virtutum./Pecuniae usum non habuit in terris,/Ut usufructum haberet in coelo/Charitate in omnes profuse/In lecto, in mensa, in domo, in omnibus/Sibi quaesivit angustias,/Ut mortua viveret, vixit ut mortua/Usa est magis aedibus pro sepulchro/Summo mane in hyeme/Sacris intererat/Hinc propter aestum divini amoris/Contraxit e frigore morbum,/Et mortem sed charitas nunquam excidit</ref>


==References==
==References==
*{{cite book | first= Giovanni Battista|last= [[Giovanni Battista Passeri|Passeri]] | year=1742| title= Vite de pittori, scultori ed architetti: che anno lavorato in Roma, morti dal 1641 fino al 1673 | location= | others=| pages= | publisher=Natale Bariellini, Mercante di Libri a pasquino | id= | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ZexZAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Giovanni+Battista+Passeri&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false | authorlink= }}
* {{cite book | first= Giovanni Battista|last= Passeri|author-link= Giovanni Battista Passeri| year=1742| title= Vite de pittori, scultori ed architetti: che anno lavorato in Roma, morti dal 1641 fino al 1673 | publisher=Natale Bariellini, Mercante di Libri a pasquino | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZexZAAAAYAAJ&q=Giovanni+Battista+Passeri }}
*{{cite book | first= Maria|last= Farquhar| year=1855| title= Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters| editor = Ralph Nicholson Wornum | pages= page 74| publisher= Woodfall & Kinder, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London; Digitized by Googlebooks from Oxford University copy on Jun 27, 2006| id= | url= http://books.google.com/books?q=intitle:Wornum+intitle:principal+intitle:painters | authorlink= }}
* {{cite book | first= Maria|last= Farquhar| year=1855| title= Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters| editor = Ralph Nicholson Wornum | pages= 74| publisher= Woodfall & Kinder |location=London | url= https://books.google.com/books?q=intitle:Wornum+intitle:principal+intitle:painters }}
* [http://www.castelbolognese.org/caterinaginnasi.htm Castelbolognese Site]
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Ginnasi, Caterina
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Italian painter
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1590
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Rome]]
| DATE OF DEATH = 30 November 1660
| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Rome]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginnasi, Caterina}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginnasi, Caterina}}
[[Category:1590 births]]
[[Category:1590 births]]
[[Category:1660 deaths]]
[[Category:1660 deaths]]
[[Category:Artists from Rome]]
[[Category:Painters from Rome]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:Italian Baroque painters]]
[[Category:Italian Baroque painters]]
[[Category:Italian women painters]]
[[Category:Italian women painters]]
[[Category:17th-century women artists]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian women artists]]
[[Category:Catholic painters]]
[[Category:Female Catholic artists]]

Latest revision as of 11:24, 8 November 2024

Caterina Ginnasi
Born1590
Rome
Died30 November 1660(1660-11-30) (aged 69–70)
Rome
NationalityItalian
Known forPainting
MovementBaroque

Caterina Ginnasi (1590 – 30 November 1660) was an Italian noblewoman and painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome.

Ginnasi was orphaned under a young age, and placed in the care of her uncle, Cardinal Domenico Ginnasi, who was the dean of the Holy College in Rome. He had arranged for her to marry a cousin, but she refused to consent and chose instead to remain single and dedicate herself to a spiritual and devotional life.[1] Although she never became a nun she lived like one and was close friends with other Roman noblewomen nuns.[1] When her talent was recognised, she started training under the painter Gaspare Celio, and then under Giovanni Lanfranco until 1634.[2] Lanfranco had painted a Pentecost scene in oil on the ceiling of the gallery for Cardinal Ginnasi in the Palazzo Ginnasi between 1629 and 1632.[1][3]

Career as an artist

[edit]

Caterina was the only woman included in Giovanni Battista Passeri's biography of contemporary artists and was one of a few women to become a member of the Accademia di San Luca.[1] Passeri praised Caterina for her dedication to studying drawing and painting, rather than the usual women's pastimes of sewing.[1] Her uncle Cardinal Ginnasi appreciated and encouraged her work; he displayed four of her paintings amongst works by Titian and Guido Reni in his gallery: a St Catherine with the wheel; an Assumption of the Virgin; St Michael Archangel and a Virgin with Velletri's protector saints.[1] He also asked her to paint altarpieces for the church of Santa Lucia alle Botteghe Oscure in Rome and for his chapel in the cathedral of Velletri (now lost).[1][3]

Caterina's success in Rome was due to these religious altarpieces. The majority of her works were completed for the church of Santa Lucia alle Botteghe Oscure that had been rebuilt in 1630 under her uncle's patronage; the church was destroyed in 1936, her altarpiece of the martyrdom of Saint Lucy and a lunette of the Last Supper (cut down from an altarpiece) are visible in a surviving photograph of the church; the altarpiece and lunette are now in the chapel and sacristy of the present Palazzo Ginnasi.[2][1] The Saint Lucy altarpiece was designed by Lanfranco.[1] Caterina also painted a small oval of the Virgin for this church, as well as an altarpiece of Saint Blaise healing a boy, whose face is said to be modelled on Cardinal Ginnasi.[1][3]

For the chapel in Velletri, Caterina painted a large altarpiece of the Virgin and Velletri's Four Protector Saints; two side paintings of saints; four corner Evangelists and the chapel's dome; these have been destroyed or repainted.[1] She also painted the main altarpiece for the church of SS. dell'Angeli Custodi (demolished in 1928-1929 for the Via del Tritone) depicting a guardian angel leading a boy to Paradise away from Hell (now lost).[4][3] A painting of Saint Joseph (untraced) was also recorded in Rome in 1925.[3] A Nativity and Pieta were also recorded in an 18th-century collection.[3] A portrait of Cardinal Ginnasi in the Podestà-Lucciardi Collection, Sarzana, has been attributed to Caterina; along with an oval version previously in the Castel Bolognese.[3]

Patronage

[edit]

In 1637, Caterina persuaded her uncle Cardinal Ginnasi to found a convent of Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Corpus Domini which was built inside the family palace, Palazzo Ginnasi, and attached to the church of Santa Lucia alle Botteghe Oscure.[1] The convent was run by Caterina and her mother, Faustina Gottardi.[1] Caterina owned many religious images, particularly of Saint Catherine, relics, statuettes and wax images as well as objects believed to be magical.[1] At his death in 1639, her uncle left her a large dowry which she invested and doubled in worth.[1] She commissioned a tomb for her uncle from Giuliano Finelli.[1]

Legacy

[edit]

Like her family, Caterina was interred in the church of S Lucia;[5] however, in 1938 this church and convent were torn down during enlargement of the Via delle Botteghe Oscure.[3] The Baroque funerary monuments of the family were transferred to a modern chapel inside the modern rebuilt Palazzo Ginassi.[3] Caterina's inscription is translated as:

Caterina Ginnasi, nephew of Cardinal Ginnasi, because of her fruitful virtue, mother of the poor and married yet barren. She did not use the money on earth to purchase the profits from Heaven, but proferred it in charity towards all. In furnishings, in victuals, in lodging: in all, she only sought suffering for herself; and to live after death, she lived as if her residence were but a tomb. In the early morning in winter while attending the sacred functions, spurred by the heat of her divine love, she contracted a cold, and for this, she died, but her charity will never die.[6]

References

[edit]
  • Passeri, Giovanni Battista (1742). Vite de pittori, scultori ed architetti: che anno lavorato in Roma, morti dal 1641 fino al 1673. Natale Bariellini, Mercante di Libri a pasquino.
  • Farquhar, Maria (1855). Ralph Nicholson Wornum (ed.). Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters. London: Woodfall & Kinder. p. 74.
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Trinchieri, Camiz (1997). ""Virgo-non Sterilis..." Nuns as Artists in Seventeenth-Century Rome". In Johnson, Geraldine A.; Matthews Grieco, Sara F. (eds.). Picturing Women in Renaissance and Baroque Italy. Cambridge University Press. pp. 159–163.
  2. ^ a b Passeri. Vite de'pittori, scultori ed architetti che anno lavorato in Roma. p. 306.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Grandi, Paolo (10 September 2013). "Caterina Ginnasi (1590 – 1660) Pittrice, Due dipinti ritrovati". La Storia di Castel Bolognese. Archived from the original on 2016-06-24. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  4. ^ Passeri. Vite de'pittori, scultori ed architetti che anno lavorato in Roma. p. 308.
  5. ^ Passeri. Vite de'pittori, scultori ed architetti che anno lavorato in Roma. p. 309.
  6. ^ Pauperum mater et virgo/Non sterilis, quia fecunda virtutum./Pecuniae usum non habuit in terris,/Ut usufructum haberet in coelo/Charitate in omnes profuse/In lecto, in mensa, in domo, in omnibus/Sibi quaesivit angustias,/Ut mortua viveret, vixit ut mortua/Usa est magis aedibus pro sepulchro/Summo mane in hyeme/Sacris intererat/Hinc propter aestum divini amoris/Contraxit e frigore morbum,/Et mortem sed charitas nunquam excidit
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