Barbara Longhi – painter

Artist created small portraits in soft colours with strong feeling

Longhi's painting of Saint Catherine of
Alexandria is a supposed self-portrait 

The talented portrait painter Barbara Longhi was born into a family of artists on this day in 1552 in Ravenna. Her work was much admired by her contemporaries but, sadly, only a small part of it has survived.

Daughter of the painter Luca Longhi, Barbara painted a portrait of herself as Saint Catherine of Alexandria and thankfully this can still be seen in Ravenna’s Museo dell’ Arte della Città. She also modelled for her father and his representations of her in his paintings confirm that the portrait of Saint Catherine was a good likeness of herself at that time.

Barbara and her older brother, Francesco, were both taught to paint by their father and as they grew up they would help in his workshop with major projects such as altarpieces. Barbara was depicted by her father as Saint Barbara in his 1570 painting Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints. 

She had completed her training by the time she was 18, but always stayed close to her father’s workshop in Ravenna.

Many of the surviving works that have been definitely attributed to Barbara Longhi depict the Virgin Mary and the infant Christ. Her picture of the Madonna and Child, which shows the Virgin Mary breast feeding, painted between 1575 and 1580, was acquired by the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2021.

Barbara Longhi did not sign all her paintings but on one, she wrote "B.L.F.", which means "Barbara Longhi fecit" (made by Barbara Longhi). On another, she wrote "B.L.P.", meaning "Barbara Longhi pinxit (painted by Barbara Longhi). Since most of her work was not signed, it is not known exactly how many pictures she painted, and only 15 works have been definitely attributed to her up to now.

One of her best-known paintings, Portrait of a Camaldolese Monk, is the only one of her known works to show an adult man. It is also one of the few paintings that has a date on it, though it is hard to read and could be either 1570 or 1573.

It is thought that Barbara probably posed for her father Luca Longhi’s painting of Nuptials of Cana for the Church of the Camaldolese in Ravenna. In the picture with her are her brother, Francesco, and the Abbot of the church’s convent, Don Pietro Bagnolo da Bagnacavallo. 

Longhi's Portrait of a Camaldolese
Monk, a rare depiction by her of a man

Barbara Longhi’s portrait of herself as Saint Catherine was painted when she was still a young woman and it shows her to be poised and elegantly dressed. It was painted for a monastery, but was acquired by the Museo dell' Arte della Città di Ravenna in 1829 and was cleaned in 1980.

One of her few paintings that does not show the Madonna is her 1570s work, Judith with the Head of Holofernes. It differs from other pictorial versions of the same story because it does not depict the violence of the act, but shows Judith looking up to heaven as if asking for forgiveness, reflecting the ideas being put forward by the Counter Reformation at the time.

Barbara Longhi’s paintings were typically small and composed with just a few people in them, rather than recreating huge scenes from the Bible. 

Experts have praised her use of soft colours and her ability to capture the feelings of her subjects. It has been claimed that her own father, Luca, once said he was astonished by her ability to portray a subject, after only a short glance at them, with more skill than other artists could achieve with the sitter posed in front of them for a longer period.

Barbara Longhi died at the age of 86 in her home town of Ravenna. A few of her paintings have since found their way to art galleries in France, Romania, the US, and Canada, as well as throughout Italy.

The Lombard Loggetta in the former monastery that
houses the Museo dell’ Arte della Città di Ravenna

Travel tip:

There are seven paintings by Barbara Longhi, as well as works by her brother, Francesco, and father, Luca, on display in the Museo dell’ Arte della Città di Ravenna, which is in the centre of the city. The museum is housed in the former monastery of Santa Maria in Porto, which has a 16th century cloister and a loggia overlooking its gardens, known as the Lombard Loggetta. Today the museum preserves works of art ranging from the 14th century, right up to examples of contemporary art. It also houses a contemporary mosaics collection. The museum is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 09.00 to 18.00 and on Sundays and during holidays from 15.00 to 19.00. It is situated in Via di Roma, at number 13.

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Magnificent mosaics adorn the
Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna

Travel tip:

Ravenna, in Emilia-Romagna, was the capital city of the western Roman empire in the fifth century. It is known for its well-preserved late Roman and Byzantine architecture and has eight UNESCO world heritage sites within the city. The Basilica di San Vitale, with its magnificent mosaics, is one of the most important examples of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture in Europe. Ravenna also houses the tomb of the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who lived and died in the city after he was exiled from Florence. The English poet Lord Byron also lived in Ravenna in the 19th century and was said to have found Dante’s tomb in the centre of the city inspirational. He would regularly visit the tomb and sit writing his poetry close by it during his time in the city. Florence has repeatedly asked for Dante’s remains to be sent back to them, but Ravenna has always refused to relinquish them.

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More reading:

Luca Longhi, the ‘quiet scholar’ who trained his children to follow in his footsteps

When Lord Byron became a Ravenna revolutionary

The mother of 11 who was Italy’s first female professional painter

Also on this day:

1559: The birth of painter Lodovico Cardi, known as Cigoli

1744: The birth of architect Giacomo Quarenghi

1960: The birth of conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan

1998: The death of actress Clara Calamai

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