Lucrina Fetti, una pittrice romana alla corte di Mantova

Thanks to an agreement between the Sovrintendenza Capitolina - Direzione Musei Civici, the Fondazione Palazzo Te and the Museo di Palazzo Ducale di Mantova, the painting 'Ritratto di Eleonora Gonzaga' (1622), the only signed and dated portrait by Lucrina Fetti, comes to Rome for the first time. The work, owned by the Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana, is on display in the Pinacoteca dei Musei Capitolini, in Room VI dedicated to Bolognese and Northern Italian painting, and is one of the artist's most interesting canvases also for the contribution it makes to the reconstruction of the presence of female artists in Rome between the 16th and 19th centuries.

The exhibition opens on Thursday 8 June, at 18.00, with a guided tour held by the Director of the Department of City Museums of the Capitoline Superintendence, Ilaria Miarelli Mariani.

Born in Rome under the name Giustina around 1589, Lucrina Fetti learned to paint in the family with her better-known brother Domenico.

Like other female artists of her time, she was destined to a monastic life and her artistic production, portraits and religious scenes, was almost entirely within the convent of Sant'Orsola in Mantua, where she moved in 1614 following Domenico, who had been called by Ferdinando Gonzaga as court painter. This convent represented at the time one of the most refined female courts in Europe. Founded in 1599 by Margherita Gonzaga, sister of Ferdinando IV and widow of Alfonso d'Este, it became a place of education and cultural meeting place for the young Gonzaga princesses and noblewomen. Margherita, an art lover, had it decorated with frescoes and paintings and Lucrina became the main artist of what was considered the parallel 'court' of Gonzaga power.

The work on display portrays Eleonora Gonzaga, the youngest daughter of Duke Vincenzo and Eleonora de' Medici, who was raised in the Ursuline convent by her aunt Margherita until her marriage to Emperor Ferdinand of Habsburg in 1622. This important portrait, painted on the occasion of the young woman's wedding, depicts her in majestic robes, befitting the role she was to play at the court of Vienna. Eleonora wears a sumptuous brocade dress woven with gold threads and adorned with lace, skilfully made by the artist. On the left of the corset is a pendant with the Habsburg monogram, while on the table is the imperial crown and a letter reading 'to the Sacred Majesty of the Empress Gonzaga'.

Even if temporarily, the painting increases the presence of female artists in the Pinacoteca's itinerary, represented by two other female painters, the Genoese Maria Luisa Raggi, active in the late 18th and early 20th century, and the Roman Maria Felice Tibaldi Subleyras, wife of the better-known Pierre.