Properzia de' Rossi
Properzia de' Rossi (c. 1490 Bologna – 1530 Bologna) was a ground-breaking female Italian Renaissance sculptor, one of only four women to receive a biography in Vasari's Lives of the Artists. According to Vasari, she taught herself to carve by working with peach-stones. At the end of her life, she was sought out by the Pope Clement VII, however, she died while he was on his way to meet her. Biography Properzia de' Rossi was born in Bologna; she was the daughter of a notary named Giovanni Martino Rossi da Modena. Unusually for early modern female artists, she was not the daughter of an artist. She appears to have studied painting, music, dance, poetry, and classical literature. She is also said to have studied with a sculptor at the University of Bologna. Vasari stated she was expert in "household matters" as well as many sciences and played and sang "better than any other woman of her city". Undecided in her youth as to which outlet of self-expression she wanted to pursue, she found her direction when she tried her hand at sculpture, creating small but intricately detailed works of art on apricot, peach, and cherry stones according to some sources, though this may have been a fabrication by Vasari meant to explain how a woman came to know how to sculpt. The subject of these small "friezes" was often religious, with one of the most famous being a Passion of Christ with Apostles and Crucifixion in a peach stone. This has been identified as part of a necklace in the Palazzo Bonamini-Pepoli, Pesaro. Further examples are in the Uffizi and Museo Civico, Bologna. Vasari also noted she copied in pen and ink drawings by Raphael. Vasari described her as married. Major commissions In 1525, Properzia was one of several artists brought in to work for the Cathedral of San Petronio in Bologna on a set of reliefs with scenes from the book of Genesis, begun by four artists in August 1524, including the painter Amico Aspertini. Vasari stated that Properzia asked to be considered for this commission and that the authorities requested an example of her work, so she executed the portrait bust of Conte Guido de' Pepoli in marble for his son Alessandro, to wide acclaim (Bologna, Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande). Cathedral records show that she was paid to create three sibyls, two angels, and a "quadro" - probably a pair of bas-relief panels, including the panel depicting Joseph and Potiphar's Wife now in the Museum of San Petronio in Bologna. In the scene, Joseph attempts to escape from the wife of an Egyptian officer. The skilfully executed musculature in combination with classical dress reveal de Rossi's knowledge of antiquity. Her style in this piece is in the "maniera moderna" of artists such as Giulio Romano, Michelangelo, Alfonso Lombardi, Correggio and Parmigianino. Additionally, the subject matter of Joseph fleeing from his temptress was a prominent subject matter in the early days of the Counter-Reformation, conveying the dangers of immorality associated