Anna Barbara Bansi (26 February 1777 – 27 May 1863) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

-born

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

painter. She is usually referred to as "Barbara" or "Babette".

Biography

Born in

Fläsch Fläsch is a municipality in the Landquart Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. History Fläsch is first mentioned in 831 as ''Villa Flasce''. Painter Anna Barbara Bansi was a native of the town.

, Bansi was the daughter of a reformed minister, Heinrich Bansi; her father had little money, and at the age of six she was adopted by Zürich philanthropist Johann Caspar Schweizer, with whom she came to Paris in 1786. He left for the United States in 1794, while she remained behind at school.Profile
at the ''Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800''. She studied painting in Paris, exhibiting for the first time in 1798, at the "Salon de Musée". She moved to Italy in 1802 to complete her education, serving also for a while as the companion to

Letizia Ramolino Maria-Letizia Bonaparte ( Ramolino; 24 August 1750 or 1749 – 2 February 1836), commonly known as Letizia Bonaparte, was a Corsican noblewoman and the mother of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. Due to her status as the Emperor's mother, she ...

and converting to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

while there. During this time Bansi was the subject of a drawing by

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

that is today in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

; they had met twice, first in the studio of

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

and some years later in Rome. Furthermore, her only known pastel, which may instead be a drawing in black chalk, is of the violinist

Pierre Baillot Pierre Marie François de Sales Baillot (; 1 October 1771 – 15 September 1842) was a French violinist and composer born in Passy. He studied the violin under Giovanni Battista Viotti and taught at the Conservatoire de Paris together with Pierr ...

, also drawn by Ingres. It has been claimed that Bansi had an affair with

Joseph-Benoît Suvée Joseph-Benoît Suvée (3 January 1743 – 9 February 1807) was a Flemish painter strongly influenced by French neo-classicism. Biography Suvée was born in Bruges. Initially a pupil of Matthias de Visch, he came to France aged 19 and bec ...

, of whom she was a pupil. In 1808 she married Lorenzo Nannoni, a physician; he died in 1812, and two years later she returned to Paris, exhibiting an oil painting of the Virgin at that year's salon. Her name in the catalogue entry was given as Mme Nannoni, née Bansi, with an address at rue du Doyenné, no. 3. Later in her career Bansi was appointed ''maîtresse de dessin'' at the schools of Saint-Denis and Sainte-Clotilde. She donated two pastels by

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (; 11 April 1749 – 24 April 1803), also known as Adélaïde Labille-Guiard des Vertus, was a French Portrait miniature, miniaturist and portrait painter. She was an advocate for women to receive the same opportunities ...

, portraits of

Jean-Jacques Bachelier Jean-Jacques Bachelier (1724–1806) was a French painter and director of the porcelain factory at Sèvres. Admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1752, he founded an art school using his own means in Paris in 1765 for ...

and the painter Vincent, to the Louvre in 1832. Several works by Bansi, including a 1793 self-portrait, are known, and a fragmentary diary from the same year survives as well.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bansi, Anna Barbara 1777 births 1863 deaths Swiss emigrants to France 18th-century French painters 19th-century French painters People from Landquart District Painters from Paris Converts to Roman Catholicism from Calvinism 18th-century French women painters 19th-century French women painters