The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-01-12
Elisabetta Sirani.

Among the followers of Guido REM,
this young woman, who died when but
twenty-five years old, is conspicuous
for her talents and interesting on ac-
count of the story of her life. She was
the daughter of a reputable artist, and
was born at Bologna about 1749 She
was certainly very industrious, since
one of her biographers names one hum
dred and fifty pictures and etchings
made by her, and all these must have
been done within a period of about ten
years.
Much has been said of the ease and
rapidity with which she worked one
anecdOte relates that on an occasion
when it happened that the Duchess of
Brunswick, the Duchess, of Mirandola,
and Duke COsimo de Medici, with
other persons, all met at her studio,
she astonished and delighted them by
the ease and skill with which she
'hOVNhVh anu Dlluttu uldN lDRo VI Viz
subjects which one after another named
to her.
The story of her life, aside from her
art, gives an undying interest to her
name, and insures her remembrance
for all time. In person she was beau
tiful, and the sweetness of her char
acter and manner won for her the love
of all those who were associated with
her. She was also a charming singer,
and was ever ready to give pleas
ure to her friends. Her adj
miring biographers also commend her
taste in dress, which was very simple
and they even go 50 far as to praise her
moderation in eating She was well
skilled in all domestic matters, and
would rise at daybreak to perform her
Lowry household duties, never allow
ing her art to displaoe the homly occu-
pations which property, as She thought
made part of her life.
Blisabetta Sirani's name has come
down through two hundred and seven
teen years as one whose "devoted filial
affection, feminine grace, aud artless
Denignity of manner added luster to
her great talents, and completed per-
sonality which her friends regarded as
an ideal Of perfection"
The sudden death Of this artist has
added a tragic element to her story.
The cause of it has never been known,
but the theory that she died from
poison, has been very generally ac-
cepted. Several reasons for this crime
have been given one is, that she was
sacriiced to the jealousy of other
artists, as Domenichino had been
another belief was that a princely lover.
whom she had treated with scorn, had
taken her life because she had dared to
place herself, in her lowly station,
above his rank and power.
A servant girl named Lucia Tolo-
melli, who had been long in the ser
service Of the Sirani family, was sus-
pected and tried for this crime. She
was sentenced to Punishment but,
after time, Elisabetta's father Ire
quested that Lucia should be allowed
to return, as he had no reason for be-
lieving her guilty. And SO the mystery
OF the cause of her death has never
been solved but its effect upon the
whole city of Bologna, where it oc-
Cured, is an exact matter of history.
The entire people felt personal loss
in her death, and the day of hey burial
was one of general mourning The
ceremonies of her funeral were attended
with great pomp, and she was buried
beside her master, Guido REM, in the
chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary,
in the magnificent church of the Do
minicans. Poets and orators We'd with
one another in sounding her praises
st. Nicholas.