For the Italian baroque painter Elisabetta Sirani (1638-65), no subject was too great or too small to paint.
For the 2026 annual NGV Italia Keynote Lecture, internationally acclaimed expert Dr Adelina Modesti draws on her extensive research to take us on a journey to the city of Bologna, and introduces Elisabetta Sirani against the backdrop of this rich Italian city – a hub for women artists in the seventeenth century.
Presented as part of NGV Italia, supported by the Italian Australian Foundation, this talk celebrates Sirani’s The Madonna and Child with a swallow, 1664, recently joining the NGV Collection through the Eva Mandel Bequest.
About the speaker
Dr Adelina Modesti is Honorary Senior Fellow in Art History and Art Curatorship in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. An internationally acclaimed expert on Elisabetta Sirani, her latest book on the artist was published in 2023 by Lund Humphries, London in conjunction with Getty Publications, Los Angeles.
About NGV Italia
Discover stories of Italian art, design, culture and life in the NGV Collection through dedicated events and resources, and explore two millennia of Italian painting, sculpture, prints and drawings, decorative arts and textiles.
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