Properzia de' Rossi was born in Bologna; she was the daughter of a notary named Giovanni Martino Rossi da Modena. Unusually for early modern women artists, she was not the daughter of an artist. She appears to have studied

Although we know of many woman artists in Renaissance Italy, Properzia was the only woman to be included in Vasari's biographies. In her life, Vasari gives examples of ancient women from the Classical tradition who achieved extraordinary things, and

Gian Paolo Lomazzo wrote a life of Properzia, adding details to the tale around the Joseph and Potiphar's wife piece and comparing her to tragic women of antiquity such as