Violante Beatrice Siries

Violante Beatrice Siries (1709–1783) was an Italian painter. She was born in Florence and, from 1726, studied under Hyacinthe Rigaud and François Boucher in Paris. Upon returning to Florence she married Giuseppe Cerroti, about whom nothing is known, and continued her artistic studies under Francesco Conti.

Life and work
Siries was talented in several genres, but established herself as a portraitist. She succeeded in gaining the patronage of the Medici family. After the death of Giovanna Fratellini in 1731, she also received support from the Medici's financial partners, the Gondi family. She often travelled to Rome and Vienna to execute commissions.

Her most ambitious work was a fourteen figure family group of the Emperor Charles VI, the father of Maria Theresa of Austria (1735). Three of her self-portraits are preserved in the Uffizi Gallery.

In later life she became a respected teacher. Her pupils included Anna Bacherini Piattoli.

She is one of the artists whose works are being restored by the Advancing Women Artists Foundation. She was also mentioned in Jane Fortune's book Invisible Women: Forgotten Artists of Florence, which discusses female Florentine artists.

Among her paintings :
 * The Sleeping Seamstress (leaning on her sewing box).
 * Saint Francis of Assisi
 * Young Ladies in a Garden Landscape
 * Captain Edward Hughes
 * The Virgin Mary Presenting the Baby Jesus to Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi
 * Double portrait of Peter Leopold of Habsburg and Maria Luisa of Spain