Background
Lavinia Fontana was born on August 24, 1552 in Bologna, Italy. She was the daughter of the painter Prospero Fontana, who was a prominent painter of the School of Bologna at the time and served as her teacher.
Lavinia Fontana was born on August 24, 1552 in Bologna, Italy. She was the daughter of the painter Prospero Fontana, who was a prominent painter of the School of Bologna at the time and served as her teacher.
Lavinia's father, the painter Prospero Fontana, was her teacher. Lavinia Fontana also attended the University of Bologna, and completed a degree in 1580.
Lavinia's earliest known works were "Monkey Child", painted in 1575, and "Christ with the Symbols of the Passion", painted in 1576. Early in her career, she was most famous for painting upper-class residents of her native Bologna, notably noblewomen. Even as her gender may have hindered her career in a society less accustomed to female artists, it may have made women more comfortable sitting for her.
She began her commercial practice by painting small devotional paintings on copper, which had popular appeal as papal and diplomatic gifts, given the value and lustre of the metal. In addition to portraits, she later created large scale paintings with religious and mythological themes which sometimes included female nudes.
Fontana moved to Rome in 1603 at the invitation of Pope Clement VIII. She gained the patronage of the Buoncompagni, of which Pope Gregory XIII was a member. Lavinia thrived in Rome as she had in Bologna and Pope Paul V himself was among her sitters.
Some of her portraits, often lavishly paid for, have been wrongly attributed to Guido Reni. Chief among these were "Venus"; "The Virgin lifting a veil from the sleeping infant Christ"; and the "Queen of Sheba visiting Solomon".
Lavinia Fontana died on August 11, 1614 in Rome, Italy.
Newborn Baby in a Crib
The Adoration of the Magi
Assumption of the Virgin with Saints Peter Chrysologus, and Cassian
Minerva Dressing
Apollo and the Muses (Parnassus)
Portrait of Antonietta Gonzalez
Portrait of Gerolamo Mercuriale
Portrait of a Couple
Portrait of a Noblewoman
Self-Portrait at the Clavichord with a Servant
The Holy Family with Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Portrait of the Coozzadini Family
Holy Family with Saints Margaret and Francis
Noli me tangere
Portrait of a Lady of the Court
Pope Gregory XIII
Isabella Ruini as Venus
Portrait of Five Women with a Dog and a Parrot
Consecration to the Virgin
Portrait of Ginevra Aldrovandi Hercolani
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
Her relationships with female clients were often unusually warm; multiple women who sat for portraits painted by Fontana, such as the Duchess of Sora Constanza Sforza Boncompagni, later served as namesakes or godmothers for her children.
Fontana married Paolo Zappi (alternately spelled Paolo Fappi) in 1577. She gave birth to 11 children, though only 3 outlived her. After marriage, Fontana continued to paint to support her family. Zappi took care of the household and served as painting assistant to his wife, including painting minor elements of paintings like draperies.