His/her father who was the pupil of Guido Reni, educated it in a repressive way. Its voyage dashes and its appropriatenesses were slowed down by it, as it often arrived to the women of this time. One knows only few things about his childhood: it had a predilection for the study of the history and of mythology, it cultivated a preference for rhetoric, it liked to play of the toothing-stone and, animated by a strong religious feeling, it was devoted to others.

As his/her father suffered from osteoarthritis, it often helped it more quickly to carry out the fabrics which were ordered to him. It was the beginning of its great passion for the art of the painting which led it to becoming a painter affirmed in spite of the general standard which rigorously privileged the practice of this art to the men. Among the subjects which it enjoyed to paint, there were allegorical representations of its invention which symbolized the self-esteem or vanity.

At the twenty years age, him his first order was made: Baptism of Christ in 1658 (Bologna, church of San Gerolamo of the Charterhouse). In this work, the glance of the artist is influenced by the style matured by Guido Reni like by that of her father Giovanni Andrea, faithful disciple of the large artist. In its compositions, it is obvious that Elisabetta Sirani drew from work of the large Masters. One can seize in his tables, certain ideas of Gessi, Guerchin and Ludovico Carracci whom it used but in a éversive way; for example in the Crucifix of the ten thousand martyrs (Bologna, church of Santa Maria dei Been useful), volumetries cubic, the energy of the gestuality and the lowering from the point of view determines a personal expressive choice.

As of the beginning, it used a different technique. For the application of the colors, his/her father used initially a thick mixture and which absorbed the pigments little, then it proceeded to the more liquid glaze; while Elisabetta Sirani used an overloaded finer preparation colors. The effect of transparency of the father contrasts with the strongly expressive assemblies of the girl. Even its contemporaries often underlined the “daring style” that the young artist was able to apply in his painting while saying: “… painted like a man and not by a woman” (Noël Coypel).

As of a feeling of tenderness and affection suitable for the female glance emerged from its tables in religious matter, and created a style of painting which accentuates the intimism. In the Virgin with the child in 1665 (Insulated Bleated, Collection Borromeo), the child tightens the arms towards the dove which his/her mother has between the hands; in Joseph Saint with the child (Faenza, municipal Art gallery), the fabric vibrates of tender delicacy, especially in the figure of the deadened child; and in the Virgin with the child (Faenza, Art gallery), the family ties are the protagonists within a framework of affectionate protective heat.

Its customers came from the middle-class bolonaise which ordered crowned subjects to him, intended for the religion and the private worship. On the list of the customers whom it itself had written, one finds the name of Andrea Albani which was an astrologer bolonais, famous for his annual forecasts, which intrigued certainly the creative character of Elisabetta.

Certain tables are distinguished from the soft composition of certain works which one could connect to the “domestic” dimension of the family ties. They is Saint Antoine (Modena, Galerie Estense) and Beati Ghisilieri (Bologna, sacristy of Madonna di Galliera) maltreated by contrasts of clearly-obscure and the depth the colors. This chromatic change would correspond to certain psychological attitudes of Elisabetta Sirani, not deepened yet by the criticism, including one leaning private individual with reflections of type the philosophical and mystical.

It passed all its life to Bologna, in the paternal house of Via Urbana (with current the n°7), entirely devoted to the art of painting, stopped only by the prayers. She wanted to write in a way meticulous person a catalog of her works, which was published thereafter by the Malvasia canon. In spite of that, one does not know the exact quantity of his tables, because it recorded only those whose profits of sale returned to his/her father, who was the single administrator of the family goods. It misses for example, of the notes of chief-to works which she continuously offered in a surge of generosity to her friends or to her admirors. Occasionally, it had to paint in hiding-place to be able to obtain money to be given to her Margherita mother; it was perhaps the only “secret” aspect of Elisabetta.

In Bologna, it painted for the noble families of Sampieri, Caprara, Zambeccari and Ranuzzi. Indeed, there exists a portrait of Vincenzo Ferdinando Ranuzzi child in the shape of Cupid (Warsaw, National museum), work gone back to 1663 filled of a long-lived grace.

Its facility of execution is also recognized in engravings whose one can notice the influence of the artist Simone Cantarini. Its first engraving goes back to 1657, the production of engravings was not very rich, but of a remarkable technical refinement, and she was a certain success at her contemporaries.

The activity of Elisabetta was without truce, and it was especially thanks to its remarkable speed of execution. The hardly received order, it noted the ideas which passed to him by the head by outlining some drawings quickly with the pencil shaded with the ink of watercolour. One ordered also the portrait to him of Cosimo de Medici. Its workshop was attended assiduously by its customers (often foreign) and by other affectionate people. Thus, it became a famous place and represented almost an obligatory halt for which visited Bologna. These prestigious orders facilitated the enrichment of its catalog and confirmed that she enjoyed a great regard during one time when the female sex was not considered yet in the artistic world, which was prerogative of the male sex.

Its role in Bologna was also innovating, because it gathered around it a true school in which his/her sisters Anna and Barbara took part, Crossed Veronica, Vincenza Fabbri, Camilla Laureti, Caterina Mongardi, Maria Oriana Galli, Teresa Coriolani, Lucrezia Bianchi which worked for the Duchesses of Modena, and Veronica Fontana famous enough for its engravings. She exerted her role of “Master successfully”, thanks to her communicative force and with her excellent capacity to transmit her knowledge to the pupils. Artistic teaching in the residence corresponded to the domestic plan of education for the women of the families of social good condition, diffused in whole Europe.

Elisabetta died suddenly on on August 29th, 1665. In this period of the romanticism, the assumption of a poisoning involved the figure of the artist in a halation of mystery from which rose in romantic time from many romantic pages. There was a lawsuit after the tragic event of which there remain legal documents against the servant, shown to have managed a poisoned red powder to him. One of its applicants, of a deformed physique, pushed back by the artist, was suspecté. As one of the many medical reports drawn up indicates it in order to understand this sudden death, it would be most probably due to a consequent internal bleeding with a chronic ulcer of the stomach.