Diana Scultori

Diana Scultori
Born	1547 Mantua
Died	5 April 1612 Rome
Nationality	Italian

Diana Scultori (also known as Diana Mantuana and Diana Ghisi; 1547 – 5 April 1612) was an Italian engraver from Mantua, Italy. She is one of the earliest known women printmakers, making mostly reproductive engravings of well-known paintings or drawings, especially those of Raphael and Giulio Romano, or ancient Roman sculptures.^[1]

She was one of four children of the sculptor and engraver Giovanni Battista Scultori and the sister of the artist Adamo Scultori, who was many years older. Both of them are often called "Ghisi" from the family's close association with Giorgio Ghisi, a more significant artist, and a misreading of a remark by Vasari. Diana learned the art of engraving from her father, and probably her brother. She was mentioned in the second edition of Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists (1568).

In 1565, she met her first husband, the architect Francesco da Volterra (Capriani). The pair moved to Rome by 1575. Once in Rome, Diana used her knowledge of business within the art world to advance her husband's career. On 5 June 1575, she received a Papal Privilege to make and market her own work. She used the importance of signature and dedication to her advantage. Three years later (1578) she gave birth to her son Giovanni Battista Capriani. Both Diana symbolically and Francesco actively became members of the Archconfraternity of the Cord of Saint Joseph during their artistic careers. The last known print by Diana dates 1588. After the death of her husband, she remarried another architect, Giulio Pelosi. She died in 1612.^{[citation needed]}