Thursday, April 14, 2011

Lavinia Fontana

Lavinia Fontana, who lived from 1552–1614, was the daughter of an artist (Prospero Fontana) and a mother of eleven!

Italian physician and doctor Girolamo Mercuriali
by Lavinia Fontana, at the Walters Art Museum

Portrait d’Antonietta Gonsalvus
by Lavinia Fontana, Musée de Blois (here's a painting of her father)

Holy Family with Saints
by Lavinia Fontana

Judith and Holofernes
by Lavinia Fontana (the other Judith and Holofernes painting by Fontana shows Judith holding a sword in one hand and Holofernes's head in the other)

Un homme endormi et un ange volant tenant un bélier
by Lavinia Fontana, at the Louvre

Portrait of a Noblewoman Said to Be Bianca Cappello, Grand Duchess of Tuscany
by Lavinia Fontana
One by her father:

Portrait of a Cardinal
by Prospero Fontana

* Curious about the Judith and Holofernes story? Here's some info, and here are some other paintings depicting the story.(The last one I include -- the Caravaggio -- is the grossest, imo.)

1 comment:

Fresh White Line said...

Lavinia Fontana really did some great work, didn't she?

I had seen the Portrait d’Antonietta Gonsalvus before and wondered about it. Thanks for the info about the family disease that caused her appearance.

Thanks also for the explanation about the Judith and Holofernes story. Makes it much clearer.