Lavinia Fontana: trailblazer, rule breaker

Uittreksel

A ground-breaking artist of her time, late sixteenth-century Bolognese artist Fontana is widely considered to be the first woman artist to achieve professional success beyond the confines of a court or a convent. Fontana was the first woman to manage her own workshop, and the first woman to paint public altarpieces and female nudes. She maintained an active career, painting for many illustrious patrons, while also taking on the role of wife and mother. Exploring Fontana's extraordinary life through her paintings and drawings, the exhibition will offer insight into the cultural climate that enabled her to flourish as a female artist of the period. This will be the first monographic exhibition to examine Fontana's work in over two decades, and the first to focus on her portraits. It will bring together a selection of her most highly regarded works from international public and private collections, alongside the artist's celebrated The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, from the Gallery's own collection.

Inhoud

Setting the scene -- Lavinia Fontana and Bolognese material culture / Babette Bohn -- Lavinia Fontana : the workshop of a woman artist / Aoife Brady -- Styling the Bolognese elite : fashion in the portraits of Lavinia Fontana / Jonquil O'Reilly -- Fontana and men -- Fontana and women -- Fontana and children -- Allegory and myth -- The crowning glory.