Barbara Longhi of Ravenna:A Devotional Self-Portrait

From the variety of types of portraiture,there evolved the imaging of a self-portrait as we see in Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Barbara Longhi of Ravenna(1552-1638).The self-portrait is a unique work of art,an intimate record of a sitter’s personality.It is an acknowledgment of worth,an exercise in technique,and a designator of era,style,and likeness.The self-portrait can be a study in expression,an impersonation of a virtue,or a document in a history of aging.As William Shakespeare noted in Hamlet,“[The self-portrait is]to show virtue her own feature,scorn her own image,and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.”In the sixteenth-century in Italy,artists often included themselves or their self-portraits in religious and secular scenes as a type of signature,as seen in the paintings of the Longhi family.In their many depictions of Saint Catherine of Alexandria,the Longhis composed two types of such images:a single-solo-image of the saint;and also her presence in a group with saints-a theme known as holy conversation.In her paintings,Barbara Longhi preferred to depict the solo image of Saint Catherine of Alexandria,using herself as a model for the figure of the saint or as a muse impersonating or personifying the saint’s virgo virtue.This essay is composed of two parts:(1)a brief explanation of the meaning of self-portraits in sixteenth-century Italy;and(2)a study of Barbara Longhi’s self-portraits as Saint Catherine of Alexandria.

Barbara Longhi’s Saint Agnes of Rome:Iconic Images of Purity and Virtue

Barbara Longhi of Ravenna(1552-1638)enjoyed creating small devotional paintings depicting holy saints,in particular Saint Agnes(c.291-304).This saint’s life and martyrdom was recorded by the Bishop of Milan,Saint Ambrose(339-397),a Doctor of the Church and theologian,in his book Concerning Virgins(374)and by Jacobus de Voragine,the Archbishop of Genoa,in his Golden Legend(Legenda Aurea,1275).The saint’s story continues to be imaged and recounted to the present day because she is an icon of a pure and virtuous adolescent female.Barbara Longhi,along with her father,Luca Longhi(1507-1580),painted several versions of Saint Agnes.In their many depictions they composed two types of images:a single-solo-image of the saint;and her presence in a group of saints-a theme known as holy conversation.In her paintings of Saint Agnes,however,Barbara Longhi preferred to depict the solo image of the saint as virgo,a young maiden of virtue.This essay is composed of two parts:(1)an account of the life and martyrdom of Saint Agnes;and(2)an iconographical interpretation of Barbara Longhi’s Saint Agnes of Rome.

Barbara Longhi’s Saint Justina of Padua:Pagan Symbolism and Christian Martyrology

Barbara Longhi of Ravenna(1552-1638)skillfully created small devotional altarpieces depicting holy saints with their respective attributes of martyrdom,seen in Saint Agnes of Rome(c.291-304)with an ewe,Saint Cecilia(c.200-235)with a portable organ,Saint Catherine of Alexandria(c.287-304)with a broken spiked wheel,and Saint Justina of Padua(c.3rd century)with a small sword in her chest.For their physical sacrifice,Heaven rewarded them with a palm frond as an honorific spiritual gift.Barbara included some of these saints in her paintings on the theme of holy conversation(sacra conversazione;a religious gathering with the Madonna and Child)and depicted the female saints as a single panel-solo image-for private devotion or supplicatory assistance.Most of the biographies and historicity about the lives of these saints are recounted by Jacobus de Voragine(1222-1298),Archbishop of Genoa,in his Golden Legend(Legenda Aurea,1275).This essay only comments on the iconography of one of Barbara’s female saints,Saint Justina of Padua.