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Elisabetta Piccini, better known by her religious name, Sister Isabella, is a rare example of a 17th-century female engraver—one of the most sought-after and successful of her time. Born in Venice in 1644, she was the daughter of Giacomo Piccini, a renowned copper engraver originally from Padua who had settled in Venice at a young age. Giacomo worked with the city’s leading typographers and publishers, achieving considerable success. His career was further enhanced by his friendship with the artist Francesco Ruschi and his connections with Giovan Francesco Loredan and the Accademia degli Incogniti, an influential intellectual society that played a key role in shaping the cultural and political landscape of mid-17th-century Venice.

Elisabetta trained alongside her brother Pietro in the family workshop, surrounded by sheets of metal, copper plates, burins, inks, and illustrated books of all kinds. Under the guidance of her father, Giacomo, she mastered the art of drawing and burin engraving. Her exceptional talent became evident early on, and by the age of 19, she was already making her mark. On November 20, 1663, following her father’s passing, she petitioned Doge Domenico Contarini for a printing privilege to publish a series of engravings she had designed—an extraordinary achievement for a young woman of her time. By 1665, she had also established a prestigious collaboration with painter Antonio Zanchi, who continued to rely on her for book illustrations for decades. Notable among these are La genealogia de’ dominii by Camillo Contarini (Venice: Girolamo Albrizzi, 1693) and Simboli predicabili by Carlo Labia (Venice: Nicolò Pezzana, 1696).

In 1666, Elisabetta took the veil and joined the Franciscan convent of Santa Croce, adopting the name Sister Isabella. She remained there until her death in 1734 at the remarkable age of 90. It was within the convent walls that her career as an engraver truly flourished, allowing her to contribute 200 ducats annually to the convent. Freed from daily chores and other duties, Sister Isabella dedicated herself entirely to her craft, working in the workshop she had established within the convent. She produced engravings for Venetian liturgical typographers and publishers, a profession that required collaboration with a range of individuals, from patrons to skilled artisans. Extant documents reveal that her clients—including typographers, publishers, and book authors—sometimes supplied her with copper plates, as well as models and drawings for her to engrave. Before beginning her work, Sister Isabella entrusted the initial plate preparation to a calderer (tinker), then engraved the design herself using a burin.

Sister Isabella contributed engravings to nearly 230 books, including missals, prayer books, breviaries, and hagiographies, working with some of the most esteemed Venetian publishers of the time, such as Paolo Baglioni, Domenico Lovisa, and Cattaneo Poletti. Particularly noteworthy are the frontispiece portraits she engraved after works by renowned painters like Antonio Zanchi, Antonio Molinari, Niccolò Cassana, and Gregorio Lazzarini. Later in her career, she even collaborated with the workshop of the famed cartographer, cosmographer, and publisher Vincenzo Maria Coronelli. Her engravings became so highly regarded that she began receiving commissions from beyond Venice. Among her patrons was the prestigious Tipografia del Seminario—the leading publishing house of 17th-century Padua—and, most notably, the Remondini family of Bassano, whose exceptional print collection is currently undergoing restoration by Save Venice. The Remondini, who operated one of the most successful printing and publishing enterprises from the 1650s to 1861, maintained a professional relationship with Sister Isabella for over 40 years.

The 58 engravings by Sister Isabella at the of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia originate from various collections—including those of Teodoro Correr, Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna, Aldo Ravà, and Abate Vianello—and are part of the 60,000 engravings housed in the Gabinetto dei Disegni e Stampe. Ranging in size from 95 × 160 mm to 760 × 520 mm, these works are printed on handmade paper or parchment. Intended primarily for didactic purposes, they cover a broad range of subjects, including religious themes, portraits of clergymen, doges, and intellectuals, as well as reproductions of funerary monuments. Most of them bear the artist’s signature, “Suor Isabella Piccini Scolpì,” namely “Sister Isabella Piccini engraved it.”

This restoration is part of Save Venice’s  “Women Artists of Venice” (WAV) program to identify, restore, and recognize the overlooked accomplishments of historic women artists in Venice.

The paper engravings show tears, minor losses, and various stains resulting from support oxidation, acidity, and water infiltration. Many also feature accumulated dust and surface dirt, particularly along the edges. The parchment engravings display significant deterioration of the support. While the most degraded examples do not exhibit major warping or deformation, they do show detachment of the graphic media from the parchment, with widespread cracking and lifting.

The engravings will undergo a targeted cleaning process, applied only to areas not at risk of detachment. To address detachment issues, localized humidification and an ultrasonic humidifier will be used to introduce moisture to the affected supports. In some cases, chemical cleaning will be necessary due to the engravings’ condition, including dirt accumulation, stains, acidity, and oxidation. Tears and gaps will be repaired and filled using Japanese paper of varying thickness and weight, selected to match the original support.

Once the restoration is complete, the engravings will be placed in archival-quality paper sleeves. For the most degraded and fragile pieces, a protective conservation folder made of archival cardboard will be created.

Sister Isabella Piccini (1644 – 1734)
58 Engravings and Prints
1660s-1730s
Ca’ Rezzonico Museum, Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe

Ca’ Rezzonico Museum: Homepage

Baccanelli, Francesco. L’arte incisoria di Isabella Piccini nei libri veneziani di fine Seicento. In Casini, Matteo, Simone Giuerriero, and Vincenzo Mancini (eds.). La “splendida” Venezia di Francesco Morosini (1619-1694). Cerimoniali, arti, cultura. Venice: Marsilio, 2022, pp. 135-145. Link to the Article

Bortone, Milena. Antonio Zanchi e le sue “invenzioni per incisioni”. Il «dessegno» per la Venetia aflita del Boschini. In “Storia della Critica dell’Arte. Annuario della Società Italiana di Storia della Critica d’Arte,” 2019, pp. 169-187. Link to the Article

Gastaldetto, Giada. Una donna incisore tra le mura del convento di Santa Croce di Venezia. In “TECA,” 3, 2013, pp. 97-122. Link to the Article

Urbini, Silvia. Sul ruolo della donna ‘incisore’ nella storia del libro illustrato. In Zarri, Gabriella (ed.). Donna, disciplina, creanza cristiana dal XV al XVII secolo. Studi e testi a stampa. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1996, pp. 367-389