COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0000046
image_record_id
aahi0000046
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Minerva at Her Toilet
Work Title (variant):
Minerva Dressing
Image Title:
full view
Work Dates (display):
1613
Work Dates type:
creation
Work Creator (display):
Lavinia Fontana (Italian, 1552-1614)
Work Creator gender:
female
work_creator_or_agent_gender
female
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
Daughter of (1) Prospero Fontana. She was trained by her father and followed his Mannerist style. Her first recorded works, which date from 1575, were small paintings for private devotion, such as the Holy Family (Dresden, Gemäldegal.). By 1577 she had become established as a portrait painter in Bologna. Works of this date include the Self-portrait at the Harpsichord (Rome, Gal. Accad. S Luca) and the portrait of Senator Orsini (Bordeaux, Mus. B.-A.). Her portrait style reflects the formality of Central Italian models as well as the naturalistic tendencies of the North Italian tradition. The elegantly costumed Orsini is shown seated at a table, with a suite of rooms opening behind him, a setting recalling such Florentine portraits of the 1530s as Agnolo Bronzino's Bartolommeo Panciatichi (Florence, Uffizi). Lavinia used a similar setting for other portraits, including the Gozzadini Family (1584; Bologna, Pin. N.). Female sitters are also shown in elaborate dress, with particular attention paid to details of embroidery and jewels, and they are often accompanied by small dogs (e.g. Baltimore, Walters A.G.; Florence, Pitti). In naturalism and treatment of detail her portraits are comparable with those of her famous North Italian predecessor, Sofonisba Anguissola (e.g. Portrait of a Woman, 1557; Berlin, Gemäldegal.). Although best known for her portraits, Lavinia also painted mythological and religious subjects, one of her most accomplished being the Noli me tangere (1581; Florence, Uffizi). The simplicity of the composition and its soft light and muted golden colours show the influence of Correggio's painting of the same subject (1520s; Madrid, Prado), which was then in Bologna. Her incorporation of qualities typical of Correggio's work was unusual among Bolognese artists at this date, before their introduction by Annibale Carracci. Her first documented public commission was in 1584, for the Assumption of the Virgin with SS Peter Crisologus and Cassian (Imola, Pin. Civ.), a work full of Venetian colour and light. In 1589 she painted another major altarpiece, the Holy Family with the Sleeping Christ Child for the monastery of S Lorenzo at the Escorial, Madrid (in situ), in a High Renaissance classical style reminiscent of Sebastiano del Piombo. Her response to progressive developments in Bolognese painting was tempered by her training in the Mannerist style of her father, and the tension between the two modes is evident in such works of the 1590s as the Assumption of the Virgin (Pieve di Cento, parish church) and the Consecration to the Virgin (Marseilles, Mus. B.-A.). The elaborate Visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon (Dublin, N.G.) may also date from this period. Lavinia's work was introduced to Rome about 1600 with the Vision of St Hyacinth (Rome, S Sabina), commissioned by Girolamo Bernerio, Cardinal of Ascoli. The success of this painting and the prospect of important new patrons probably prompted her move there in 1603, the year she received her most important public commission, for a large altarpiece depicting the Martyrdom of St Stephen (destr. 1823) for the basilica of S Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome. The painting is recorded in an engraving of 1611 by Jacques Callot (see J. Lieure: Jacques Callot, i, Paris, 1924, no. 33). No major public commissions followed this, though she continued to work as a portrait painter in Rome (e.g. Head of a Young Man; Rome, Gal. Borghese). Among her last works are the full-length figures of SS Cecilia, Catherine, Clare and Agnes for the pilasters of the high altar of S Maria della Pace, Rome (in situ). These were commissioned by Gaspare Rivaldi, whose portrait by Lavinia is also in the church. One of the last of the Late Mannerist painters, Lavinia was not a stylistic innovator, but the range of subject-matter and format and the number of works she produced is significant; hers is the largest extant body of work by a woman artist active before 1700. She had 11 children from her marriage in 1577 to Gian Paolo Zappi, a minor artist who had studied with her father and became her agent. (Grove Art Online accessed 2006-07-26)
Work Style Period:
Mannerist (Renaissance-Baroque style)
work_styleperiod
Mannerist (Renaissance-Baroque style)
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
Italian Renaissance-Baroque styles
work_styleperiod
Italian Renaissance-Baroque styles
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
17th century
work_styleperiod
17th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
mythology, Roman
subject
mythology, Roman
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
shields (armor)
subject
shields (armor)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
Minerva (Roman deity)
subject
Minerva (Roman deity)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
nudes (representations)
subject
nudes (representations)
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
paintings (visual works)
work_type
paintings (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
paintings
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
paintings
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Measurements (display):
260 cm (H) x 190 cm (W)
Work Inscription (display):
Signed; Dated
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
Galleria Borghese
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
repository
Work Location (Geographic) name:
Rome, Italy
Image Rights (display):
© Ronald Wiedenhoeft. Licensed for educational use via Scholars Resource: Saskia, Ltd.
Image Rights license agreement:
SASKIA, LTD.: WHO CAN USE THIS SOFTWARE: (a) Licensee, including faculty, staff and currently enrolled students may use the Licensed Software to display and or print the corresponding graphic images without limitation for teaching and research purposes at the defined Sites, or at remote locations having electronic access to your Site(s). (b) This license include permission to use the Licensed Software on a multi-user network at the defined Site, and to permit remote access to a computer/server located at your Site. Simultaneous display in multiple locations at or connected to the Site is also permitted. (c) Licensee agrees to employ reasonable security measures designed to limit access to your faculty, staff and currently enrolled students. PROHIBITED USES AND LIMITATIONS: (a) Saskia hereby reserves all rights not expressly granted herein. (b) the License Software may not be used for preparaiton of any publication, scholarly or otherwise; or for any purpose other than teaching or research. Publication of an image from the Licensed Software requires a separate license from Saskia. (c) Licensee agrees not to resell, lease, transfer, sub-license or otherwise distribute a copy of the Licensed Software, or any image taken from the Licensed Software, in whole or in part. (d) Licensee also agrees not to modify, corrupt or alter any digital image graphic content or "digital watermark" or the like in the software provided by Saskia under this Agreement. (e) Licensee agrees not to remove, alter, cover or distort Saskia's copyright notice, trademark, or other proprietary rights notice placed by Saskia in the Licensed Software itself, or in the associated packaging, media or documentation. (f) And Licensee agrees to notify users of the Licensed Software, in writing or by sign-on screen display, of their obligations under this Agreement and solicit their cooperation and compliance with such obligations.
Work Rights (display):
public domain
Terms of Agreement and Conditions of Use:
YOU AGREE: Luna Imaging's Insight Software and the digital image collection associated with it (the Software) are being provided by the University of Colorado under the following license. By obtaining, using, and/or copying this work, you (the Licensee) agree that you have read, understood, and will comply with the following terms and conditions. 1. The Software contains the University of Colorado's Department of Art and Art History's implementation of a digital image collection; 2. Any images obtained through use of the Software will be used only for non-profit, educational purposes; 3. The use of images obtained through the software will only be used while the Licensee is either: a) an employee of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver, or the Community College of Denver, or b) an enrolled student at the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver, or the Community College of Denver; 4. When the Licensee is no longer an employee or student of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver or Community College of Denver, either by an action of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver or the Community College of Denver or due to actions of the Licensee, the licensee will cease to use any images exported from the Department of Art and Art History's digital image collection; 5. The Licensee agrees to indemnify the University for claims and liability arising out of the use of the Software or for any violations of this license; 6. THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO SUPPLIES THE SOFTWARE WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Center
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see