Giovanna Fratellini was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 painter of the Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 period, active in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, mainly painting small miniature portraits.

Initially, a "lady-in-waiting" for a Grand Duchess dowager of Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

, Vittoria della Rovere, she was noted to have a skill at drawing and tutored under a mediocre Capuchin monk and painter, Ippolito Galantini

Ippolito Galantini

Ippolito Galantini may refer to:*Ippolito Galantini , Italian painter of the Baroque period*Ippolito Galantini , founder of the Congregation of Christian Doctrine of Florence...

. She is also said to have had instruction by Livio Mehus

Livio Mehus

Livio Mehus was an Flemish painter and engraver of the Baroque period, active mainly in Florence. Born in Oudenaarde in Flanders. After an obscure training in Milan with a battle-painter, he traveled at the age of 15 years to Rome, he found a powerful patron in Prince Matthias of Tuscany...

, Pietro Dandini

Pietro Dandini

Pietro Dandini was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Florence. He was the son and pupil of the painter Vincenzo Dandini. Pietro's uncle, Cesare Dandini, was also a painter. Vincenzo's sons, Ottaviano and Vincenzo Dandini the younger also became painters. He is also called...

, Domenico Tempesti, and Anton Domenico Gabbiani

Anton Domenico Gabbiani

Anton Domenico Gabbiani was an Italian painter and active in a late Baroque style.-Biography:Born in Florence, Gabbiani first apprenticed with the Medici court portrait painter Justus Sustermans, then with the Florentine Vincenzo Dandini; subsequently moved to Rome in 1673 he arrived in Rome,...

. She was active in the court of Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Born the daughter of Giovanni Marmocchini, she married at age 18, Giuliano Fratellini. She gained renown among aristocratic circles for her ability to paint, with celerity, miniature enamel portraits. These were used as portable mementos that could be carried in lockets. She was in the past compared with Rosalba Carriera

Rosalba Carriera

Rosalba Carriera was a Venetian Rococo painter. In her younger years, she specialized in portrait miniatures...

, who gained fame with her ability to rapidly complete somewhat sugary, pastel portrait busts of sitters. The painter Violante Beatrice Siries

Violante Beatrice Siries

Violante Beatrice Siries was an Italian painter. She was born in Florence and studied under Hyacinthe Rigaud and François Boucher in Paris from 1726. Returning later to Florence she married M. Cerrotti and continued her artistic studies under Conti....

(1709–1783) was her pupil.