Onorata Rodiani was a Cremonese artist and condottiere, whose existence is shrouded in myth and entangled with the traditional tropes associated with the literary sub-genre that concentrates on the lives of artists – in particular, female artists – who were customarily described as possessing various socially acceptable feminine virtues.
Born in Cremona in 1403, there is a dearth of information with regard to Onorata’s childhood and training, although her artistic life and subsequent career as a mercenary soldier was initially recorded by Conrado Flameno in 1590. During the eighteenth century, Giambattista Biffi took up her biography and described her assault by a rejected suitor, the artist’s subsequent flight from Cremona and the new military life that she made for herself. Biffi, quoted in states:
In the bloom of adolescence she [Rodiani] was painting in the palace residence of Cabrino Fondulo, Signore of Cremona and Marchese of Castelleone, when a courtier of the above-mentioned tyrant fell deeply in love with the young painter, but seeing himself rejected in this conceived desire, and scorned, attempted one day to have by means of violence that which he despaired of obtaining by means of his prayers; Rodiana defended herself within reason until seeking the attack was extreme, [she] killed the assailant by stabbing [him], and fled in disguise, greatly fearing the disdain of the Marchese who appreciated and held dear the ill-advised lover.
Following her flight and passing as a man, Onorata enlisted in the military and later died from the wounds she sustained in the battle to defend Castelleone.
Surviving works sometimes attributed to Onorata Rodiani can found in the
Further Reading:
Julia K Dabbs, “Sex Lies and Aneccdotes: Gender Relations in the Life Stories of Italian Women Artists 1550-1800.” In Aurora, vol. 6, 2005, pp. 17-37.