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)

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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: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1477-4658.00204

Publication date: 1996-06-01