Lavinia Fontana and Le Dame Della Citta: Understanding Female Artistic Patronage in Late Sixteenth-Century Bologna
Author: Murphy C.P.
Source: Renaissance Studies, Volume 10, Number 2, June 1996 , pp. 190-208(19)
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
Key:
- Free Content
- New Content
- Subscribed Content
- Free Trial Content
Abstract:
Well-to-do Bolognese women were important patrons of Lavinia Fontana as she made her reputation as an artist in the late 16th century. They commissioned portraits, including some unusual group portraits that drew attention to women's positions within families and lineages. Encouraged by the Jesuits and by Bishop Gabriele Paleotti, the women were also involved in commissioning Fontana's religious paintings and alterpieces for Bolognese churches; these works show the way her art was stimulated by the post-Tridentine promotion of the use of images in religious instruction and worship.Keywords: Italy (Bologna); Women; Upper Classes; Painting; Patronage; Fontana, Lavinia
Document Type: Research article
DOI: 10.1111/1477-4658.00204
Key:
- Free Content
- New Content
- Subscribed Content
- Free Trial Content

Click here for Page Help