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Jul 25, 2023

Dec 19, 2013

Still Life with Birds and Fruit

c. 1650

Giovanna Garzoni

(Italian, 1600–1670)

Italy

Watercolor with graphite, heightened with lead white

Support: Vellum

Sheet: 25.7 x 41.6 cm (10 1/8 x 16 3/8 in.)

Bequest of Mrs. Elma M. Schniewind in memory of her parents Mr. and Mrs. Frank Geib 1955.140

Location

not on view

Did you know?

Giovanna Garzoni was one of just a few women artists to rise to prominence in Italy in the 1600s.

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.

Provenance

?-1954

Elma M. Schniewind [1875-1954], Cleveland, OH

March 10, 1955

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Bacci, Mina, "Jacopo Ligozzi e la Sua Posizione Nella Pittura Fiorentina," Proporzioni Vol. IV (1963): pp. 53, 77, under no. 20, fig. 5 (as Jacopo Ligozzi)

Palazzo reale (Naples, Italy). La Natura morta italiana. Milano: Alfieri & Lacroix, 1964. p. 28, under no. 17

Columbia University, and Joan Nissman. Florentine Baroque Art from American Collections. 1969. no. 36, pp. 42-42, fig. 18

Harris, Ann Sutherland, and Linda Nochlin. Women Artists, 1550-1950. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976. no. 21, p. 136

Ciardi, Roberto Paolo, and Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi. Immagini anatomiche e naturalistiche nei disegni degli Uffizi, secc. XVI e XVII. Firenze: L.S. Olschki, 1984. p. 64

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. p. 459, under no. 1.259

Casale, Gerardo, Giovanna Garzoni, and Paola Lanzara. Giovanna Garzoni: "insigne miniatrice," 1600-1670. Milano: Jandi Sapi, 1991. no. a35 (as after Giovanna Garzoni), pp. 30, 45 (illus), 47, 90

Piland, Sherry, and Donna G. Bachmann. Women Artists: An Historical, Contemporary, and Feminist Bibliography. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1994. p. 77 (illus)

Trinity Fine Art Ltd, "An Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, Prints, and Paintings," 6 May-15 May, 1998. p. 36, under no. 16

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. Mentioned: cat. no. 19, pp. 58-59, pp. 285-86; Reproduced: p. 59

Meloni Trkulja, Silvia, Elena Fumagalli, and Giovanna Garzoni. Still lifes, Giovanna Garzoni = Giovanna Garzoni, Stilleben = Natures mortes, Giovanna Garzoni. 2000. pp. 50-51 (illus).

Tongiorgi Tomasi, Lucia, and Gretchen A. Hirschauer. The Flowering of Florence: Botanical Art for the Medici. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2002. cat. no. 56, p. 89

Palter, Robert. The Duchess of Malfi's Apricots, and Other Literary Fruits. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2002. fig. 10, p. 73

Kehlenbeck,Gerhard, Thomas le Claire,and Karoline von Kügelgen. Master Drawings NO. 26 (Hamburg : Le Claire Kunst, 2010). cat. no. 6.

Lanthony, Philippe. A Natural History of Colour Vision. 2012. p. 32

Garrard, Mary D. "The Not-So-Still Lifes of Giovanna Garzoni." In "The Immensity of the Universe" in the Art of Giovanna Garzoni. Sheila Barker, ed., 62-77. Livorno: Sillabe, 2020. Mentioned: P. 71; reproduced: P. 14-15, 73, fig. 10

Caffi, Margherita, Gianluca Bocchi, and Ulisse Bocchi. Margherita Caffi e l'atelier dei Vicenzini. 2022. Mentioned: p. 17, p.34 note 40; reproduced: p. 41, VV.4a

Exhibition history

Drawings from the Museum Collection: 15th-17th Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 18-October 11, 1960).

Water Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 6-August 27, 1962).

European Watercolors Through the 18th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 14-March 22, 1964).

Florentine Baroque in American Collections. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (April 16-June 15, 1969).

Women Artists, 1550 - 1950. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (December 21, 1976-March 13, 1977); Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX (April 12-June 12, 1977); Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA (July 14-September 4, 1977); The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (October 1-November 27, 1977).

The Magic of Still Life. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 4, 1986-February 1, 1987).

Concept, Dogma and Feeling: Italian Drawings 1550-1650. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 20, 1991).

Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).

The Flowering of Florence: Botanical Art for the Medici, 1550-1750. National Gallery of Art (organizer) (March 3-May 27, 2002).

Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).

Making Her Mark. The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (co-organizer) (October 1, 2023-January 1, 2024); Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario M5T 1G4, Canada (organizer) (co-organizer) (February 1-June 1, 2024).

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{{cite web|title=Still Life with Birds and Fruit|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1955.140|author=Giovanna Garzoni|year=c. 1650|access-date=30 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Still Life with Birds and Fruit

Still Life with Birds and Fruit

Giovanna Garzoni

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