Violante Beatrice Siries

Who was 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.

Siries was talented in several genres, but established herself as a famous portraitist. She succeeded in gaining the patronage of the Medici family in Florence after the death of Giovanna Fratellini and travelled to Rome and Vienna to execute commissions.

Her most ambitious work was a fourteen figure family group of the emperor Charles VI, the father of Maria Theresa, and three of her self-portraits are preserved in the Uffizi Gallery. In later life Siries became a respected teacher and her pupils included Anna Piattoli.