Both siblings received painting education from their father and were part of his studio,[3] with Barbara assisting in such projects as work on large altarpieces.

[1] Her Saint Catherine of Alexandria (above) bears a strong resemblance to her father's depictions of her in the two paintings mentioned above, and it is generally acknowledged as a self-portrait.

[1][2][4] Of Longhi's portrayal of herself as the aristocratic, cultured Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Irene Graziani writes that "when she exhibits an image of herself, Barbara, too, is presented according to the model of the virtuous, elegant and erudite woman, revisiting the themes which Lavinia [Fontana] had developed several years earlier in Bologna, according to a repertoire tied to late Mannerism".

[4] It has been suggested that Longhi may have presented her self-portrait as the devotional image of a saint in order to avoid the appearance of indulging in the sin of vanity.

[4] Originally commissioned for the monastery of Sant'Apollinare in Classe,[1] the painting was acquired by the Museo d'Arte della Città di Ravenna in 1829, and underwent a restoration in 1980.

[8] While influenced by these major figures, her own unique style evolved; for example, her delicate rendering of features such as arms and necks on her Madonnas, and her use of a "warm and subtle golden palette".

She is so wonderful in this art that her own father begins to be astonished by her, especially in her portraits as she barely glances at a person that she can portray better than anybody else with the sitter posing in front.

[7] The Museo d'Arte della Città di Ravenna owns seven works by Barbara Longhi, as well as eleven of her father Luca's and three by her brother Francesco.

Her work is represented in the collections of the Musée du Louvre (Paris), National Museum of Art of Romania (Bucharest), Pinacoteca di Brera (Milan), Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Museo Biblioteca del Grappa, and Indianapolis Museum of Art, and also in the Santa Maria Maggiore (Ravenna).