Lavinia Fontana

**Lavinia Fontana** (24 August 1552–11 August 1614) was an Italian Mannerist painter. She was active in Bologna and Rome. Today, people remember her mostly for the portraits that she painted. She also had other themes that she painted. She also did mythological and religious painting. Her father, Prospero Fontana trained her. Some people see her as the first career artist in Europe. This is because she relied on commissions for her income.  In the context of art, this means that people asked her to create paintings with certain themes or styles, and paid for this. 

Her family relied on her career as a painter, and her husband served as her agent and raised their eleven children. She was perhaps the first female artist to paint female nudes, but this is a topic of controversy among art historians.

## Her nude paintings 
 Dressing'', 1613, Galleria Borghese, Rome.]]
Fontana also  pained nudes. Today, art historians do not agree on the ways and means she used for this.  Caroline P. Murphy  says that much like with her Fontana's father's paintings, the body parts are well-rendered, but overall, the figure re disproportionate. Murphy suggests that, like Sofonisba Anguissola, Fontana had family members model for her. Linda Nochlin writes that art academies barred women from viewing any nude body, despite this being a crucial part of an artist's training.

## Gallery 

File:Mystic_Marriage_of_St._Catherine_by_Lavinia_Fontana,_c_1577.jpg|*Mystic marriage of Saint Catherine*, 1574–1577, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
File:Lavinia_Fontana_-_Christ_appears_to_Mary_Magdalen._Noli_me_tangere,_1581_(cropped).jpg|*Christ appears to Mary Magdalen. Noli me tangere*, 1581, Uffizi, Florence
File:Lavinia_Fontana_-_Assumption_of_the_Virgin.JPG|*Assumption of the Virgin with Saints Peter Chrysologus and Cassian,* 1584, Palazzo Comunale, Imola
File:Lavinia_Fontana_-_Ritratto_di_Costanza_Alidosi_(ca._1595)FXD.jpg|*Portrait of Costanza Alidosi*, c. 1595, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
File:Lavinia_Fontana_Christ_and_the_Samaritan_Woman_at_the_Well.jpg|*Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well*, unknown date, private collection
File:Fontana_Judith_Holofernes.jpg|*Judith and Holofernes*, unknown date, private collection
File:Lavinia_Fontana_Ritratto_di_Bianca_Lucia_Aliprandi,.jpg|*Portrait of Bianca Lucia Aliprandi*, 1602, private collection
File:Lavinia_Fontana_Wedding_Feast_at_Cana.jpg|*Wedding Feast at Cana*, c. 1575–1580, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

## References 
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* Cheney, Liana (Spring-Summer 1984). "Lavinia Fontana, Boston 'Holy Family'". ''Woman's Art Journal''. 5 (1).
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* Murphy, Caroline P. (1996). "Lavinia Fontana and 'Le Dame della Citta': understanding female artistic patronage in late sixteenth-century Bologna." *Renaissance Studies.* 10 (2). pp.&nbsp;190–208. JSTOR.
* Murphy, Caroline P. (1997). "Lavinia Fontana". *Dictionary of Women Artists*. Vol 1. Delia Gaze, ed. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn. pp.&nbsp;534–7. .
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* Rocco, Patricia. *The Devout Hand: Women, Virtue, and Visual Culture in Early Modern Italy*. McGill-Queens University Press, 2017.
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## Other websites 
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* *Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi*, a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on Lavinia Fontana (see index)