Lucia Casalini Torelli

Lucia Casalini Torelli (1677–1762) was an Italian painter, active in Bologna. The wife of painter Felice Torelli (and, through him, sister-in-law of violinist and composer Giuseppe Torelli), she was the mother of painter Stefano Torelli. She was born in Bologna, where she trained under Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole.

Life and works
Daughter of Antonio Casalini and Antonia Bandiera, she began studying painting with her cousin, Carlo Casalini. However at the age of thirteen she entered the atelier of the prominent Bolognese painter, Giovanni Gioseffo Dal Sole. Here she met her future husband, also a successful painter Felice Torelli, who was regularly sent by the master to the young girl's home to bring her drawings to copy. The two married in 1701, and soon opened their own studio with students. They had seven children, two of whom, Anna and Stefano, became artists. In 1706, Felice Torelli was one of the founders of the Accademia Clementina; Lucia was elected an honorary member in 1726, a few years after Rosalba Carriera became a member of the Academy. The active participation of Lucia and Felice in the Academy contributed to their artistic and social success in Bologna.

Casalini Torelli's works were mostly of sacred subjects, but she also specialized as a portrait painter, creating portraits of the prominent Bolognese families of the era. Among others, she painted various ecclesiastical portraits such as Cardinals Ruffo, Giorgio Spinola, Giorgio Doria, Gozzadini. In Vite de' Pittori Bolognesi, non descritte nella Felsina Pittrice (1769), the author, Luigi Crespi makes note that:

The Emilian artist was widowed in 1748 and died in Bologna May 18, 1762, at the age of 85. Many of her works are lost. The church of San Domenico, in Imola, conserves an altarpiece painted by her which depicts Saint Thomas Aquinas.