Fontana, Lavinia (1552–1614)
Fontana, Lavinia (1552–1614)
Italian painter of the late Renaissance. Born in Bologna, Lavinia was the daughter of Prospero Fontana, a Bolognese artist who trained her in the Mannerist style. She was renowned in Italy as a portrait painter, with her famous works being a Portrait of a Woman and The Gozzadini Family. She is also known for a famous Self-Portrait at the Harpsichord. She was skilled at depicting clothing, jewelry, and interiors in fine detail and vivid colors. Her largest and most famous work was an altarpiece, The Martyrdom of St. Stephen, which she painted in 1604 for the Church of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. This work was destroyed in a fire in 1823. Fontana was one of a very few female artists to be elected to the Academy of Rome.
See Also: Anguissola, Sofonisba