Presentation of the book
Il diario di Elisabetta Sirani by Massimo Pulini
(NFC Edizioni 2025 )
In dialogue with the author Gianfranco Tondini
Event in collaboration with Società di Studi Ravennati
Art historian Massimo Pulini reconstructs the story of the Bolognese painter Elisabetta Sirani (1638-1665) with rigour and passion, through a long research project, restoring the lively and unexpected portrait of an artist of great creative genius and vital and tenacious character.
With the publication of Il diario di Elisabetta Sirani (NFC 2025), it gathers valuable evidence on the pictorial activity of a young woman, her patrons and her personal vicissitudes who, in an era dominated by men, succeeded in creating the first European school of painting attended only by women. The monograph in album form also presents more than fifty previously unpublished works, including dispersed paintings, drawings and engravings, which add to the many already known works by an artist who had only ten years to express her talent, recognised throughout Europe. An appendix, written by Stefano Antonio Marchesi, adds an account of the death, the two autopsies and the sensational trial that followed.
Massimo Pulini is a painter, writer and art historian. He has published numerous collections of essays on 16th and 17th century Italian art, several novels, and curated various museum exhibitions. He currently holds the chair of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna.