Lavinia Fontana

Lavinia Fontana was an Italian painter who lived and worked during the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries. She was born in Bologna, Italy in 1552, and was one of the most important portraitists of her time. She became an official painter at the court of Pope Clement VIII and, after his death, was appointed portrait painter at the court of Pope Paulo V. She was also selected to be a member of the Accademia di San Luca. This academy was established in 1593 to elevate painting to a level beyond that of craftsmanship, and was controlled by the papacy during its early years.

The fact that she was the daughter of the painter Prospero Fontana, with whom she trained, and that she was born in the city where the University of Bologna was founded, considered to be the first university in the western world and the first university to accept women students, helped her, I’m sure, to develop her great talent in this broadminded cultural environment.

When she was 25, she married Gian Paolo Zappi, who was also a painter working at her father’s workshop and member of a noble family. They had eleven children; however, she was able to continue painting while her husband took care of the house and helped her at her workshop. It is believed that he was responsible for painting the backgrounds of some of her paintings. Most of Lavinia’s works were portraits and she was very skilled at painting fabric, lace and jewels, depicting her models’ opulence.

Because of her wonderful portraits, Lavinia became quite famous in Bologna and her fame spread across Italy. In a manner that was exceptional for her time, she painted nudes, both female and male, in her large-format religious and mythological paintings. Today we have 32 of her signed paintings although there are more than 135 documented works.

She was a contemporary of Sofonisba Anguisola (I previously wrote a post about her) and both artists were able to live from their income as painters. For those who were lucky enough to be in Madrid between October 22, 2019 and February 2, 2020, the Museo del Prado had an exhibition of these two great artists. This must have been such an amazing exhibition!!! Two artists who were famous and well recognized during their lifetimes and who were erased from the history of art during the following centuries.

Lavinia and her family lived in Rome from 1603 until her death in 1614. She was acclaimed as a great artist of her time, and in 1611, a medal was cast with her profile on one side and figure of her sitting before her easel, on the other side.

In subsequent posts I’ll continue to tell you about the women in art who were well-known during their lifetimes and have disappeared from our historical artistic memory. Fortunately, there are several museums which are now making them known again for the benefit of all art lovers.