ROSSI, Properzia de'
(b. ca. 1490, Bologna, d. 1530, Bologna)

Biography

Italian sculptor. She is referred to in a document dated 1516 as the daughter of Girolamo de' Rossi of Bologna. Among the few recorded women artists in the 16th century, she was unusual in working as a sculptor. According to Vasari, she began by carving peach stones: a peach stone he described as engraved with the entire Passion has been identified as that forming part of a necklace (Pesaro, Palazzo Bonamini-Pepoli). An engraved cherry stone (Florence, Uffizi) has been attributed to her, as well as 11 carved peach stones set in a device of filigree silver (Bologna, Museo Civico).

Her work in marble includes a portrait of Conte Guido de' Pepoli (Bologna, Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande), two angels in high relief (believed to be those placed on either side of the Annunciation by Domenico Brusasorci in San Petronio) and a relief panel, Joseph and Potiphar's Wife, carved for the portal of S Petronio (Bologna, Museo di San Petronio). For the same portal, documents dating to 1525 and 1526 indicate that de' Rossi carved a second panel (believed to be that of the Visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon), as well as two sibyls and an angel. Vasari also recorded that she produced engravings and made drawings after Raphael.