The Female Painters of the Renaissance
Lavinia Fontana, Portrait of Bianca degli Utili Maselli and Her Children (c. 1604) Lavinia Fontana (1552–11 August 1614) was an Italian Mannerist painter active in Bologna and Rome. She is best known for her successful portraiture, but also worked in the genres of mythology and religious painting. She was trained by her father, Prospero Fontana. She is regarded as the first female career artist in Western Europe, as she relied on commissions for her income. Her family relied on her career as a painter, and her husband served as her agent and raised their 11 children. She was perhaps the first female artist to paint female nudes, but this is a topic of controversy among art historians. [ source ] The painting at the top of the page can be seen in San Francisco at the Legion of Honor.
