Lavinia Fontana, August 24, 1552 – August 11, 1614, was an Italian painter of the Bolognese School and one of the most successful female artists of the late Renaissance. Trained by her father, Prospero Fontana, she established an independent career in Bologna before later working in Rome.
Fontana became renowned for her portraits of noblewomen, scholars, clergy, and children, as well as for large-scale religious and mythological paintings. She received commissions from aristocratic patrons, churches, and members of the papal court, producing works notable for their refined detail, rich color, and careful observation of costume and jewelry.
Today, Lavinia Fontana is recognized as one of the first women in Europe to sustain a major professional painting career. Her works are held by museums including the Uffizi Galleries, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Self-Portrait at the Virginal with a Servant, 1577
Oil on canvas, 10.6 x 9.4 in
Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome
Self-Portrait in the Studio, 1579
Oil on canvas, 40.2 x 31.5 in
Uffizi Galleries, Florence
Portrait of Carlo Sigonio, 1575–1584
Oil on canvas, 38.6 x 49.4 in
Museo Civico di Modena, Modena, Italy
Portrait of a Prelate, c 1580
Oil on copper, diameter 5.5 in
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple, 1580
Oil on canvas, 60.4 x 44.9 in
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Christ Appears to Mary Magdalen/Noli me tangere, 1581
Oil on canvas, 31.4 x 25.5 in
Uffizi Galleries, Florence
The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John/Virgen del Silencio, 1589
Oil on canvas, 75.4 x 60.6 in
Galería de las Colecciones Reales, Madrid
Antonietta Gonzales, c 1595
Oil on canvas, 22.4 x 18.1 in
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Blois, France
Portrait of Costanza Alidosi, c 1595
Oil on canvas, 61.9 x 47.3 in
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC
Portrait of a Lady with a Dog, 1590s
Oil on panel, 38.2 x 28.5 in
Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Portrait of Bianca degli Utili Maselli and Her Children, 1604–1605
Oil on canvas, 39 x 52.6 in
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1595–1600
Oil on canvas, 48.4 x 38.2 in
Museo Davia Bargellini, Bologna, Italy
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