The 17th Century likewise produced a number of excellent women artists. Bologna, the birth-place of so many famous men and women, was also the native town of =Elizabeth Sirani=, who, born in 1638 to Gian Andrea Sirani, a painter of some reputation, attracted attention to her attempts at drawing when scarcely more than an infant. Her rare talents developed as she grew older. Before she had attained her eighteenth year, she had finished several paintings, which were greatly admired and given places of honor in various churches. Her most admired work, a Lord’s Supper, grand in conception, is in the church of the Certosini, and is considered one of the best examples of the Bolognesian School of art. Unfortunately this promising woman died suddenly when only twenty-seven years of age. =Rosalba Carriera=, a Venetian, born in 1675, became famous over all Europe for her admirable miniature- and crayon- or pastel-portraits, which, through her, became the fashion of the 18th Century. Among the Dutch artists of the 17th Century =Maria van Osterwyck= and =Rachel Ruisch= excelled in painting flowers and fruits. =Elisabeth Cheron=, a French woman, born in Paris in 1648, was famous for her miniatures and historical subjects. England too had some fine women artists: =Mary Beale=, born 1632 in Suffolk, and =Anne Killigrew=, born in London. Both are known for excellent portraits of notable persons. The National Portrait Gallery in London contains for instance Mary Beale’s portraits of King Charles II., of the Duke of Norfolk, and of Cowley. [Illustration: MARIE S. LEBRUN WITH HER DAUGHTER. After her own painting. ] The 18th Century produced two women artists, who were among the leaders of their time: =Angelica Kauffmann= and =Marie LeBrun=. Angelica Kauffmann, the daughter of an artist, was born in 1740 at Coire in Switzerland, from where she went later on to Italy, to study the great masters. In 1765 she came to London. Here she painted many excellent portraits as well as numerous classic and allegorical subjects. In 1781 she returned to Italy. Here she was always much feted and admired for her talents as well as for her personal charm. Goethe, who met Angelica Kauffmann in Rome, admired her works very much. “No living painter,” so he wrote in a letter, “excels her in dignity or in the delicate taste with which she handles the pencil.” And Raphael Mengs, one of the most brilliant artists of the Rococo, praised her in the following words: “As an artist Angelica Kauffmann is the pride of the female sex in all times and all nations. Nothing is wanting; composition, coloring, fancy, all are here.” When she died in November, 1807, she was honored by a splendid funeral under the direction of Canova. The entire Academy of St. Luke at Rome with numerous ecclesiastics and virtuosi followed her funeral train and, as at the burial of Raphael, two of her latest paintings were carried behind her coffin in the procession.