Lavinia Fontana

Painting of a light-skinned adult woman sitting at a keyboard. Her dark hair is pulled back. She wears an ornate dress with long sleeves and white lace collar. Behind her, a light-skinned woman holds open a book of sheet music. In the background, an easel stands by a window.

Lavinia Fontana, Self-portrait at the Clavichord with a Servant, 1577, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome

1552–1614

She made great strides in the field of portraiture, which garnered her fame within and beyond Italy. In fact, Fontana is regarded as the first woman artist, working within the same sphere as her male counterparts, outside a court or convent.

At age 25, Fontana married a fellow painter from a noble family, who acted as his wife’s assistant and managed their growing household (the couple had 11 children, only three of whom outlived their mother). For 20 years beginning in the 1580s, Fontana was the portraitist of choice among Bolognese noblewomen. She also painted likenesses of important individuals connected with the University of Bologna.

Fontana’s fame spread to Rome, where she moved in 1604. There she became a portraitist at the court of Pope Paul V and was the recipient of numerous honors, including a bronze portrait medallion cast in 1611 by sculptor and architect Felice Antonio Casoni.

Artist Details

  • Name

    Lavinia Fontana

  • Birth

    Bologna, Italy, 1552

  • Death

    Rome, Italy, 1614

  • Phonetic Spelling

    lah-VEEN-yah fohn-TAH-nah

Works by Lavinia Fontana

  • Portrait of Costanza Alidosi

    Lavinia Fontana depicted the Bolognese noblewoman Costanza Alidosi seated in a sparsely, yet luxuriously, furnished interior. In the upper left, a courtyard and two open doorways are visible, giving the painting depth and perspective.

    The life-size figure of...

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    A light-skinned, dark-haired woman wearing pearl and gold jewelry and a black-velvet, lace, and brocade gown poses with her lap dog. Seated in a red velvet chair in the foreground, she makes eye contact with viewers while pressing her hand on the armrest, as if to stand.

    Lavinia Fontana, Portrait of Costanza Alidosi, ca. 1595; Oil on canvas, 62 x 47 3/8 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; Photo by Lee Stalsworth

  • Marriage Portrait of a Bolognese Noblewoman (Livia de’ Medici Bandini?)

    Marriage Portrait of a Bolognese Noblewoman (Livia de’ Medici Bandini?) illustrates Lavinia Fontana’s ability to render sumptuous clothing and jewels in astonishing detail. The contrast between the woman and the painting’s plain, dark background is especially strong, ensuring that viewers will focus on the figure.

    Recent scholarship has established that this painting of an unidentified, young Bolognese noblewoman is almost certainly...

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    A woman stands in a richly brocaded red dress, her right hand reaching down to pet a small, white dog. Adorned in jewelry, she wears flowers in her hair, parted in the center. The pelt of a small mammal, its head encased in a jeweled holder, hangs from her heavily decorated belt.

    Lavinia Fontana, Marriage Portrait of a Bolognese Noblewoman (Livia de’ Medici Bandini?), ca. 1580; Oil on canvas, 45 1/4 x 35 1/4 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; Funding for the frame generously provided by the Texas State Committee; Photo by Lee Stalsworth

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