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Lavinia Fontana's "Self-Portrait Making Music" Author(s): Katherine A. McIver Reviewed work(s): Source: Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Spring - Summer, 1998), pp. 3-8 Published by: Woman's Art Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1358647 . Accessed: 09/02/2012 12:24

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http://www.jstor.org LAVINIAFONTANA' S SELF-PORTRAITMAKINGMUSIC

By Katherine A. Mclver

Something changed during the , in women's sense of As Prospero's only child, Lavinia was solely responsible for themselves, even if very little changed for the better in their social the familyworkshop and became heir to the familybusiness. She condition. That change did have its roots in the spiritual experi- supported not only her aging parents but her husband and their ence of women, and it culminates in the consciousness put into eleven children, three of whom she taught to paint. An excep- words by the first feminists of the Renaissance...the intelligent tional woman, Lavinia Fontana was at once daughter, wife, seekers of a new way.1 mother, and professional painter-a rare achievement at any time. Most of the period operated from the pro- A close reading of LaviniaFontana's (1552-1614) Self-Por- tected environment of either the court (Sofonisba Anguissola, trait Making Music with a Maidservant (1577; front cov- Levina Teerlinck,Katerina van Hemessen) or the convent (Cate- er) will convince that the artist was one of "the intelligent rina dei Vigri, Platilla Nelli) and had a readymadeclientele. An seekers of a new way." Born in the progressive city of , urban workshop like Fontana's operated in a more competitive she was taught to paint by her father, Prospero Fontana (1512- atmosphere; commissions could not be taken for granted. It is 97), a leading Bolognese fresco painter whose pupils included precisely this distinction that sets her career apart from that of Lodovico Carracci and Gian Paolo Zappi, an impoverished minor most women artists of the period, making it similar to that of nobleman from nearby Imola and Lavinia's future husband. Anto- many male artists. Moreover, Fontana's marital situation was nia di Bartolomeo de Bonardis, Fontana's mother, came from a quite unusual. After her 1577 marriage,she did not give up her noted family of printers and publishers that was well established lucrative career nor did her production decline; rather, Zappi, in Bologna by 1535. Prospero ran a cultivated household, often her husband, became her promoter, procuringclients and sign- entertaining visiting artists and intellectuals. He produced elegant ing contracts. He even painted some of her frames and attended and refined works for his learned and aristocratic patrons (see, for to their children.3 example, St. Alessio Giving Alms; San Giacomo Maggiore, In his 1568 edition of the Lives of the Artists,Vasari identified Bologna, 1570s)-a manner Lavinia continued in her early altar- the Fontanafamily among the educated elite of Bologna. Indeed, pieces like Christ and the Canaanite Woman (c. 1577; Private women had studied at the Universityof Bologna since the 13th Collection, Venice). Lavinia emulated her father's fluid brush- century,and there were manywho taught and publishedscholarly stroke and taste for jewel-like coloring, while at the same time in- texts. LaviniaFontana was educated; universityrecords indicate corporating the delicacy of Correggio's devotional paintings, the that she was made a dottoressa(doctor of letters) in 1580. Family sweetness of Federico Barocci, and the naturalism of Annibale friends included a number of professors, among them Vincenzo Carracci (see, for example her Assumption of the Virgin with Ghini, professor of medicine; Uliise Aldovandi,professor of nat- Saints Cassiano and Pier Crisologo, Pinacoteca, Imola, 1584). ural science; and humanists Achille Bocchi and Carlo Sigonio, During the 1560s and 1570s, Lavinia worked on the small- whose portrait Lavinia painted in 1578. Any one of these men scale commissions that came into her father's workshop. By 1575, could have tutored Fontana.4More importantly,the cult of Cate- however, she was painting independently-mostly portraits and rina dei Vigri,the 15th-centuryabbess of the Conventof the Poor religious images-and had developed an artistic identity quite Clares in Bologna, helped to create an unusuallysupportive con- separate from her father's. At the same time, Fontana was pre- text for educated and skilled women of the city. Of noble birth, vented from joining the academy founded by the Carracci family Caterinawas educated in , painting,and music, and accord- in the 1580s because of its emphasis on drawing from the nude ing to Sister Illuminata Bembo, she "loved to paint the Divine male, an activity prohibited to females. She nevertheless received word as a babe in swaddlingclothes."5 As a saint and the patronof commissions for altarpieces both in Bologna (for example, painters in 16th-centuryBologna, Caterinasurely inspiredyoung , archbishop of Bologna and close family friend, LaviniaFontana. ordered an altarpiece for his chapel in San Pietro in 1594) and in Fontana'sinnovative Self-Portrait Making Music with a Maid- , where, like her father, she received papal commissions- servant differs considerablyfrom the image projectedby her old- first from Gregory XIII and later from Clement VIII. Both popes er counterpart,Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1535-1625), in her simi- requested that she enter their service as in Rome, larly titled self-portrait (1561; Fig. 1).6 Fontana's picture, al- an offer she deferred, remaining instead in Bologna until well af- though it appears to repeat Anguissola's conventions, is also a ter her father's death. By 1603 Fontana had established an inde- statement about status, education, and a claim to nobility as out- pendent and successful workshop in Rome and had become a lined by in his Book of the Courtier member of the painters' guild, the Accademia di San Luca, which (1528).7 The cultivated Renaissance gentildonna, with whom had only recently begun admitting women. Lavinia Fontana died Fontana identified, was virtuous and well educated-she wrote in Rome in 1614.2 poetry, sang, played musicalinstruments, and participatedin the- SPRING/ SUMMER1998 0 On the surface, Fontana's self-image is consistent with the prescriptives for the ideal woman set forth in such popular texts as Federico Luigini's II Libro della bella donna (1554), Agnolo Firenzuola's Dialogo delle belleze delle donna (1548), and Gian- giorgio Trissino's I Ritratti (1524). Unlike Castiglione's or Alber- ti's instructive manuals for self-modeling (which also were used by 16th-century artists as guides in their efforts to raise their so- cial status), these treatises, which were based on Petrarchan ideals of feminine perfection, focused on how a woman should look, not on her behavior." Still, Fontana's portrait conveys a sense of serious creative and intellectual achievement not typical- ly found in images of women from the 16th century. Hers is a subtle form of self-promotion reflecting two commonly held ideas: that a woman artist is a marvel, and a beautiful woman is a marvel of nature. Lavinia Fontana identifies herself not only as a marvel but also as a gentildonna.'2 A woman's beauty was related to ideas of morality, virtue, rank, and economic and social relationships and often was com- municated through deportment, dress, accessories, and body lan- guage.'3 Both Moretto da 's Lady with a Lute and a Dog (c. 1545; Fig. 2) and Woman with a Music Book and a Lira da Braccio (1530-40; Fig. 3) by an anonymous Northern Italian artist visualize these ideas, but differently. Most Renaissance images of women were painted by men for a male patron-the subject twice the object of the male gaze-and conformed to the courtly ideal of beauty. But there were stunning exceptions: although Figures 2 and 3 clearly portray noblewomen, the former is with- drawn, her eyes demurely averting the viewer, while the latter en- gages us defiantly. Set against elegant brocade, Moretto's Lady wears a black dress and pendant necklace and holds a small dog in her lap. Mu- sic, the form of a lute to her Fig. 1. SofonisbaAnguissola, Self-Portrait Making Music with a Maidservant(1561), represented by partial right, appears to be of little to either artist or Her costume and oil on canvas, 331/4"x 26". EarlSpencer Collection, Althorp. import subject. setting suggest an aristocratic woman. According to Bolognese atricals. She often received a humanistic education involving the noblewoman Lucrezia Marinella, while men could win success study of grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy and honor in many fields, only ornamentation and dress were based on the standard authors in Latin such as Virgil and Cicero, available to women as signs of accomplishment.14 Clearly, this at- generally from a family member or tutor.8 In fact, few women titude is evident in Moretto's portrait. In contrast, the woman in were educated, and most who were acquired vernacular reading Figure 3, like Lavinia Fontana, claims music as central to her and writing skills in accordance with their social status. Above all, identity. By placing her right hand on a book of music, she draws as Alberti, Castiglione, and others stated, a woman's education our attention to it; next to the music lies a lira da braccio, prede- should prepare her to be a virtuous and practical wife and mother cessor to the moder violin. Although her black dress, jewels, and and a gracious hostess.9 But some women, including Fontana, de- feathers are the lavish costume of an aristocrat, she is also a manded more, as her self-portrait certainly illustrates. woman with musical accomplishments. The book is open to Taking up Anguissola's challenge to create a unique self-im- "Quando Madonna," a madrigal by Philippe Verdelot, perhaps age, Fontana depicts herself not only making music and with a the most popular 16th-century composer."1 A neo-Petrarchan maidservant but also, provocatively, with an empty easel. Further, verse, it speaks of the triumph of the eyes over the tongue and unlike the somberly dressed Anguissola, Fontana wears rosy red, heart and was chosen, perhaps, with a male admirer in mind. Pe- and her maidservant, unlike Anguissola's passive bystander set in trarch's love poetry, reinterpreted during the Renaissance, domi- the shadows, gestures toward the artist with an open book of mu- nated 16th-century Italian lyric verse. Nearly everyone carried a sic. Instead of Anguissola's more conventional blank wall, the Petrarchino, a small book of Petrarchan verse whose celebrations viewer looks into Fontana's studio. Equally intriguing is the in- of female beauty were recited by both men and women and fre- scription on the upper left of the canvas: "Lavinia virgo Prosperi quently set to music. Fontanae/Filia ex speculo imaginem/oris sui expresi anno 1577" Like Quattrocento profile portraits of women, Moretto's Lady (Lavinia maiden daughter of Prospero Fontana has represented is displayed as an object to be scrutinized and admired-a piece the likeness of her face from the mirror in the year 1577).'0 Cos- of property.'6 Carnations worn behind her ear and on her pendant tumed elegantly, demonstrating her musical accomplishment, and symbolize love and marriage; the dog is an age-old symbol of fi- suggesting her profession of artist, the 25-year-old Fontana here delity; and the lute suggests musical accomplishment. More than presents herself as a distinct individual, a woman with character, likely it was a wedding portrait, as the subject fits Alberti's defini- not just a conventional beauty. Anguissola, also about 25, presents tion of what a man should seek in a bride-"beauty of mind, that herself as virtuous and talented, but less formidable. While work- is, good conduct and virtue."'7 Moretto's Lady is decorously ing within the parameters laid out as proper for her status and chaste, depersonalized, and passionless; she appears rather than gender, Fontana concedes nothing. acts in this static form, and her glance neither arouses, distracts, 0 WOMAN'S ART JOURNAL nor engages.' In contrast to the North her first papal commissions) and Italian portrait and Fontana's self-por- rather than a presentation portrait for trait, where the subjects manipulate her in-laws, who were well aware of the attributes of the ideal woman for Fontana's status, this image was per- their own purposes, Moretto's Lady is haps painted as an "advertisement" for framed by the parameters of property prospective clients-a business Zappi and display. actively participated in after their Fontana, certainly aware of the tra- marriage. dition from which Moretto's image de- Self-portraits by women artists were veloped, dresses herself elegantly and in demand; Annibale Caro, for in- shows herself making music. However, stance, wrote to Sofonisba Anguissola's she confronts the viewer, showing an father in December of 1558: "There is awareness of her audience. Further- nothing I desire more than the image more, Fontana manipulates her self- of the artist herself, so that in a single image to make a personal statement work I can exhibit two marvels, one the about herself and her place in the work, the other the artist."2'Caro's let- world. The inclusion of music is not ter reflects the period's connection be- necessarily evidence of Fontana's mu- tween art and female beauty, which sical skill; rather, along with her ele- was symbolized in a portrait of a gant costume, it attests to Fontana's woman-something Fontana would knowledge of the ideal of beauty. She have been aware of when creating her too painted portraits of elegant ladies own self-images.22 Further, self-por- with lapdogs, for example, those at the traits indicated the artist's talent for Galleria Borghese, Rome, and at Wal- getting a likeness. For example, An- 2 ly wiith a Luteand a Dog (c. 1545) s ters Art Gallery, Baltimore, both from Fig. Moretoda Brescia, guissola's father sent two of her self- La33/4 ". PrivateCollection, Mi lan. the 1580s. oil on canvas, 403/4"x 34 portraits to prospective clients, to To some extent all Renaissance Julius III in 1555 and to the Este court portraits are involved with ideas of status. Vasari, for one, in 1556.23: Fontana most likely knew of Anguissola's promotional stressed that the significance and value of a portrait lie not so tactics when she conceived of her musical self-portrait, and, in much in recording the features as in preserving for others the fact, she made at least two copies. The copies vary only slightly vision and memory of an individual of outstanding virtue and from the original, which suggests that they were painted on re- talents, and in evoking the sitter's achievements and noble quest rather than as new interpretations. The original and one deeds.'9 Fontana, on the front cover and in her other self-por- copy were sent to Rome, and, significantly, the original became traits (e.g., the 1579 self-image in the Galleria degli in the property of the Accademia di San Luca.24 ), was concerned not only with status but also with pro- Letters to Fontana from patrons in Rome and Bologna attest jecting such traits as virtue, talent, and achievement. In the Uf- to her reputation. Hieronimo Mercuriale, secretary to the Duke fizi portrait she depicts herself as of Urbino, called her an "excellent prosperous and scholarly-she is writ- painter to say the truth...a most re- ing, surrounded by her collection of markable person."'5 Muzio Manfredi, a antique bronzes and plaster casts. Bolognese nobleman, wrote to request Both portraits place the artist firmly "un ritratto di suo mano" (a portrait by within the context of the learned and your hand)."6Alfonso Ciaconio, a Span- cultivated citizenry of Bologna. Al- ish Dominican who collected paintings though aligning herself with the gen- of famous people, wrote from Rome on tildonna, in the cover self-portrait she October 17, 1578, requesting portraits breaks with that tradition in two ways: of three famous Bolognese men (Carlo the inclusion of her easel, symbol of Sigonia, Alessandro Aquiliano, and Lu- her profession, and the assertiveness dovico Boccardiferro), which he later of her pose. described as "very excellent creations" According to Italian scholar, Maria and asked that Fontana send a self-por- Teresa Cantaro, the image Fontana ., trait so that he could place it next to presents in Self-Portrait Making Mlu- the one he owned of Sofonisba Anguis- sic is that of an elegant, properly edu- sola. In May 1579, Fontana sent him cated woman, well-versed in the arts Self-Portrait WVritingat Her Desk, now of music and painting. Moreover, she in the Uffizi.27 suggests that Fontana painted this im- Fontana admired Anguissola, noting age for her future father-in-law, her "merit and worth" in the letter to Severo Zappi, on the occasion of Pros- Ciaconio accompanying the self-por- pero Fontana's public notice, on Janu- trait.2' But Fontana also viewed her as ary 13, 1577, of his daughter's engage- comnpetition, someone to surpass, ment to Gian Paolo Zappi.2" However, which indeed she did in her 1577 miu- by the mid-1570s Fontana's career Fig. 3. Anonymous,Woman w'ith / lusic Bookand Lirada Braccio sical self-portrait. The younger artist was well established (she had received (1530-40), oil on panel, 44t" x 34".Galleria Spada, Rome. surpassing the older, established artist SPRING/ SUMMER1998 0 was a recurrent theme in Lives of the Vlasari,too, took up the challenge, first Artists, in which Vasari writes of Giotto in his 1550 Lives and then again, in surpassing Cimabue, the mnuch revised 1568 edition. He surpassing Donatello, and so on.29 Al- crusaded actively, seeking improve- though Vasari does not imbue women ment both for himself and for his pro- artists with this competitive spirit, it fession. A woman artist like Sofonisba nevertheless existed. While she operat- Anguissola further supported Vasari's ed within the parameters of decorum cause; as a member of the miinor no- appropriate for her gender, Fontana bility, Anguissola, whose musical skill painted what both Castiglione and was well known, validated the nobility Vasari called "a most pleasurable de- of both painting and (by association) ception": her outward appearance as a - the artist.:3- ge,ntildonna, behind which she hides /.J{"~^^^^Fontana used her self-portrait not the true significance of her self-im- 4j^ _^^^~only 1 to elevate herself from dilettante age-her easel. to professional but also, by including The maidservant in Fontana's paint- her musicianship, from one who prac- ing prominently displays the music she l tices a craft to someone with skills brings to the artist, suggesting, perhaps, _ ??' equal to that of the musician, poet, its importance. The text and notation, no writer, and philosopher. In fact, the longer legible, may have held a clue to j^, " -- - ^^_ self-portrait as a musician was the con- her intentions. Although there is no doc- ceit of many 16th-century painters. umentation of Fontana's musical accom- Fig. 4. Marietta Robusti, Se If-Portrait (1580s), oil on canvas, Such is the case perhaps with Domeni- we know that her contem- plishments, 371/2" x 36'/2". Galleria degliUffizi, Florence. co Brusasorci (1515-67), a founding porary, Marietta Robusti (c. 1560-90), member in 1543 of the Accademia Fi- daughter of painter Jacopo Tintoretto, larmonica in Verona, who had received received musical training. Furthermore, in Robusti's self-image musical training. Like many other 16th-century academies, the (c. 1580s; Fig. 4) the musical text has been identified as another Filarmonica comprised small groups of poets, musicians, madrigal by Philippe Verdelot, "Madonna, per voi ardo," from artists, and amateurs who met regularly for discussions and mu- his book of madrigals printed in Venice in 1533."' Here, the mu- sical performances. What is unique about Brusasorci's self-im- sic is significant for the sitter. The opening lines, "My lady, I age (c. 1560s; Fig. 5), which, unfortunately, is now in very poor burn with love for you and you do not believe it," suggest that it condition, and what calls for a comparison to Fontana's, is his in- was painted for a male viewer, possibly Robusti's future husband. clusion of both musical references, a conietto and a group of mu- She was married in 1586. sicians, and artistic implements.": Brusasorci holds a pen or brush Fontana's portrait also is related to the Renaissance debate con- in his hand, the conretto lies on the table to his left, and the musi- cerning the status of painting. Most painters in the late-15th and cians are seen in the background to his right. Birsasorci, by docu- early-16th century were considered artisans, although a few, such menting a meeting of the Accademia Filarmonica, has given the as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, viewer a symbol of his cultural achieve- ; achieved considerable social standing. ment as well as a reference to his pro- Renaissance artists themselves, having a fession, something, Fontana, as a vested economic interest in elevating woman, could do only (liscreetly. their social status, initiated this shift in Although Anguissola, as MaryvGar- perception. They strove to achieve a -f_SESB: ^rardhas suggested, associates herself level of respect equal to that of a musi- with her male artist coulnterparts cian or poet by having their work valued through her somber costume, Fontana for the cerebral rather than physical la- is bolder. The easel may be small and bor inherent in the creative act. Leonar- in the background, but the clavichord's do was one of the first to compare directional lines carry the eve directly painting and music: _5 to it. MWhileboth artists seek to engage the viewer, Fontana does so boldly. But painting excels and is superior in The viewer is drawn into her "artistic rank to music, because it does not per- i space," while she is actively commluni- ish immediately after its creation, as cating to the viewer, establishing her happens unfortunately with music. worth as both professional artist and Rather painting endures.... Painting gentildlonlla. satisfying the sense of sight is more no- The use of the wor(d "xirgo" in the ble than music which only satisfies inscription can refer to the sitter's vir- hearing. Therefore, painting is to be ginity, her impeccable morals, or, as preferred to all other occupations.... It the term soimetimes implied in the is to be more and exalted than 16th century, and praised * , ...... her independence music...seeing that you have placed mu- self-possession."4 According to Cas- sic amongst the liberal arts, either you tiglione, the ability to play the clavi- should place painting there, or remove Fig. 5. Domenico Brusasorci, Self-FPortrait (1560s), oil on canvas, chord and sing well indicated both so- music." 383/4" 31 /4". Museo di (Castelvecchio, Verona. cial status and the accomplishments of 0 WOMAN'S ART JOURNAL a gentildonna.35 Fontana's musical reference does not necessarily LaviniaFontana, 6; Murphy,"Making of a Woman Artist,"176; and imply that she was a musician-in fact, there is no evidence that , TheLives of the Most EminentPainters, Sculptors, and she was; rather, it attests to her awareness of the significance of Architects,Gaston du Vere, trans. and ed., I (New York:Knopf, 1912; music and the parallel between musical and artistic talent. reprinted1996), 918. In 1611 Felice Antonio Casoni made a medal, now in the 5. Paolo Puliati,Caterina da Bologna(Modena, 1963), 9-32. Pinacoteca Civica in Imola, in Fontana's honor. The recto de- 6. Fora discussionof the self-portraitsof Italianwomen artistsin the picts a profile bust of the artist with the inscription: "Lavinia Renaissancesee IreneGraziani, "LaLegenda dell'artista donna," in Vera Fontana Zappi Pictrix.Ant.Casoni.1611." The reverse shows the Fortunati,ed., la Pitturain Emiliae in Romagna:Cinquecento (: artist seated at her easel, seized by divine inspiration, her luxuri- Electra,1995), 129-47. Fordiscussions of SofonisbaAnguissola's por- ant hair flying wildly about her. At her feet are brushes, behind traits,see FredrikaH. Jacobs, "Woman'sCapacity to Create:The Unusu- her a palette, and below, in the border, are calipers and a al Case of SofonisbaAnguissola," Renaissance Quarterly (Spring 1994), square. Significantly, Fontana has discarded her mahlstick; she 74-101, and MaryD. Garrard,"Here's Looking at Me: Sofonisba does not need aids to steady her hand. The inscription reads: Anguissolaand the Problemof the WomanArtist," Renaissance Quarterly "Per te stat gioioso mi mantene" (Through you, joyous state, I (Autumn1994), 556-662. am sustained).36 As was customary with Renaissance portrait 7. BaldassareCastiglione, TheBook of the Courtier,George Bull, medals, the reverse epitomizes the subject's personal character- trans. (New York:Penguin, 1967), 94-96, 101. See also LeonBattista istics and occupation. The wild hair and abandoned mahlstick Alberti,The Family in RenaissanceFlorence, Renee Neu Watkins,trans. suggest fury, the joyous state that sustains the artist.37The medal (Columbia:University of SouthCarolina, 1969), 115-16, 207-29. confirms her virtuosity and attests to her fame. Bolognese poet 8. PaulGrendler, "Schooling in WesternEurope," Renaissance Quar- Giulio Cesare Croce's tribute to Lavinia Fontana may say it terly(Winter 1990), 780-81, 784-85. See also LisaJardine, "'O Decus best: "In painting there are those who know the great wonder of ItaliaeVirgo,' or the Mythof the LearnedLady in the Renaissance,"Histor- nature, Lavinia Fontana, noble painter, unique in the world like ical Journal28/4 (1985), 799-820, who discussesthe humanisteduca- a phoenix."38Clearly, Fontana's ideas about self-fashioning, evi- tion of Renaissancenoblewomen and how these women were viewed by dent in the musical self-portrait, were innovative. Her Self-Por- theirmale counterparts. trait Making Music introduces a new aspect to the genre-that 9. Alberti,Family, 207-29; Grendler,"Schooling," 784-85. of the creative, intellectual woman, the active subject of the 10. Author'stranslation. work. Working within the boundaries appropriate for her gen- 11. KonradEisenbichler and JacquelineMurray, On the Beautyof der, she, at the same time, surpassed earlier models like Sofon- Women (Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania,1992), 13-14. See isba Anguissola to establish herself as an "intelligent seeker of a also John C. Nelson, RenaissanceTheory of Love(New York:Columbia new way." As a successful professional woman artist with a pro- University,1963). The ideal of beauty evolved out of the neo-Platonic ductive workshop and distinguished patrons, Lavinia Fontana definitionof love, and woman's externalbeauty was linkedwith inner helped pave the way for and Elisabetta goodness and virtue. Sirani and others who followed.39 ? 12. Garrard,"Here's Looking at Me," 566-68. See also, Paola Tinagli, Women in ItalianRenaissance Art: Gender, Representation,Iden- NOTES tity(Manchester, Eng.: Manchester University, 1997), 112-14. 1. MargaretKing, Women in the Renaissance(Chicago: University of 13. MaryRogers, "The Decorum of Women's Beauty:Trissino, Firen- Chicago, 1991), 238. Thisstatement is partof King'sresponse to Kelly- zuola, Luiginiand the Representationof Women in the SixteenthCentury," Gadol's question:"Did women have a Renaissance?"in RenateBriden- RenaissanceStudies (March 1988), 73. See also Tinagli,Women in Ital- thal and Claudia Koonz, eds., BecomingVisible: Women in European ian RenaissanceArt, 84-1 11, for a discussionof Renaissanceideals of History(: Houghton Mifflin, 1977), 132-64. Versionsof this paper femininity. were presentedat conferencesof the RenaissanceSociety of America, 14. My paraphraseof Marinellais fromDiane Owen Hughes, April 1995, and the College ArtAssociation, February 1997. "LaModa proibita:la legislazione sumtuarianell'ltalia Rinascimentale," 2. Basic bibliographyon LaviniaFontana includes Maria Teresa Memoria 11-12 (1984), 93-94. See also PatriciaSimons, "Women in Cantaro, LaviniaFontana, pittora singolare, 1552-1614 (Milan:Jandi Frames,"History Workshop Journal (Spring 1988), 15-17, and Sharon Sapi Editori,1989); RomeoGalli, LaviniaFontana, pittrice (Imola: Tip. Strocchia,Death and Ritualin RenaissanceFlorence (Baltimore: Johns P. Galeati, 1940), and Vera Fortunati,ed., LaviniaFontana (1552- HopkinsUniversity, 1992), chapter2, for a discussionof these ideas. 1614) (Milan:Electra, 1994). In the lattervolume see especially Fortu- 15. H. Colin Slim, "AnIconographical Echo of the UnwrittenTradition nati's essay "LaviniaFontana, una pittricenell'autunno del Rinascimen- in a VerdelotMadrigal," Studi Musicali (September 1988), 41-43. to" (11-36) and Angela Ghirardi's"Lavinia Fontana allo Specchio" (37- 16. Simons, "Womenin Frames,"11. 51). See also Caroline Murphy,"Lavinia Fontana and 'Le Dame della 17. Alberti,Family, 115-16. Citta': UnderstandingFemale Patronagein Late-SixteenthCentury 18. Simons, "Womenin Frames,"11-12, 21-22. Bologna," RenaissanceStudies (June1996), 190-208, and "Lavinia 19. KlaraGaras, ItalianRenaissance Portraiture (: Corvina Fontana:the Makingof a Woman Artist,"in Els Kloek,Nicole Teeuwen, Kiado, 1981), 9. and MarijkeHeusman, eds., Women of the Golden Age (Leiden:Hilver- 20. Cantaro, LaviniaFontana, 7, 72-74. She, too, comparesthe paint- sum Verloren, 1994). For ProsperoFontana see Vera Fortunati,"L'lm- ing to Anguissola's 1561 portrait.See also Murphy,"Lavinia Fontana," maginariodegli artistiBolognese tra manierae controriforma:Prospero 190-208, and "Makingof a Woman Artist,"171-81. In the latterarticle Fontana,"in Andrea Emiliani,ed., LeArti a Bologna e in Emiliadal XVI Murphysuggests that Fontana'sempty easel means that "she is not oblig- al XVIISecolo (Bologna:Cooperativa LibrariaUniversita, 1982), 97- ed to slave away at her art, she has time for leisure."(178) Thisinterpre- 127. See also LauraM. Ragg, The Women Artistsof Bologna (London: tationseems a contradictionof termsand falls withinthe traditionalread- Methuen, 1907). ings of portraitsof women. CatherineKing, in "Lookinga Sight:Six- 3. Ghirardi,"Lavinia Fontana," 37-41, and Murphy,"Making of a teenth-CenturyPortraits of Woman Artists,"Zeitschrift fur Kunstgeschichte Woman Artist,"171-72. 58/3 (1995), 381-407, suggeststhat the easel is a message "thather art 4. M. Massini, Bolognapertustrata (Bologna, 1668), 666; Cantaro, comes second to her desire to please with her appearance and musical SPRING/ SUMMER1998 0 accomplishments."(392) LikeMurphy's, King's traditional reading may ImagoMusicae (Fall1987), 47. be too limiting. 31. MartinKemp, ed., Leonardoon Painting (New Haven:Yale Uni- 21. F. Baldinucci,Notizie dei professoridel disegno, II(Florence, versity, 1989), 35-37. 1681; reprinted 1849 and 1979), 624-25. 32. Vasari, Lives,II, 466-68, 641. See also CatherineM. Soussloff, 22. Garrard,"Here's Looking at Me," 568. See also ElizabethCrop- TheAbsolute Artist: The Historiography of a Concept (Minneapolis: per, "TheBeauty of Women: Problemsin the Rhetoricof Renaissance Universityof Minnesota, 1997) for a detailed analysis of Vasari'smod- Portraiture,"in MargaretFerguson, Maureen Quillian, and Nancy Vick- els. The low statusof artistsderived fromrevered classical literature.See, ers, eds., Rewritingthe Renaissance,the Discoursesof Sexual Difference for instance, Plato (TheRepublic, VIII, 595-601) and Lucien(The Dream, in Early Modern Europe (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1986), 117- A.M. Harmon,ed., London:Heinemann, 1931, 223) for particularly 81. These ideas are establishedin texts like Agnolo Firenzuola'scited in derogatory assessments. the text of this paper. 33. Fora discussionof DomenicoBrusasorci's self-portrait, see my 23. Vasari, Lives,II, 466-68; Baldinucci,Notizie, II,620-22. "Musicand the SixteenthCentury Painter: Lappoli, Brusasorci and 24. One copy is now in the Uffizi;the other is knownonly througha Garofalo,"RIdlM Newsletter (Fall 1994), 49-52. photograph.The backgroundsin the copies (and of course the dates) 34. Garrard,"Here's Looking at Me," 582. See also Ghirardi, differfrom the original;the inscriptionremains the same. "LaviniaFontana," 42. 25. Galli, LaviniaFontana, 117, document8. See Cantaro, Lavinia 35. Castiglione, Courtier,94-96. Fontana, 11, 329; also see Carlo Malvasia, FelsinaPittrice, vite de'pit- 36. Cantaro, LaviniaFontana, 19. tori Bolognesi,Giampietro Zanotti, ed., I (Bologna:Arnaldo Forni Edi- 37. Jean Owens Schaefer, "A Note On the Iconography of a tore, 1678; reprinted1841), 177, who notes that the women of Bologna Medal of LaviniaFontana," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld competed to entertainher and commissionher works. Institutes(1984), 232-34. See also, Garrard, "Here's Lookingat 26. Giovanni Bottari,Raccolta di letteresulla pittura,scultura ed Me," 564, for a discussion of Paolo Pino's Dialogo and the signifi- architettura,V (Milan, 1822), 44-45. cance of the mahlstick. 27. Ghirardi,"Lavinia Fontana," 37-38; Cantaro, LaviniaFontana, 38. Thisis fromhis Poesie nella gloria delle donne of 1598, published 11, 329; and Galli, LaviniaFontana, 93. in Cantaro, LaviniaFontana, 329, and Galli, LaviniaFontana, 93. 28. Galli, LaviniaFontana, 80, 115, n. 5; Cantaro, LaviniaFontana, 39. ArtemisiaGentileschi, whose self-portraitof 1630 (RoyalCollec- 305-06; and Ghirardi,"Lavinia Fontana," 43-45. Letterdated May 5, tion, St. James Place) is the embodimentof the allegory of painting, 1579. shows herselfwith her hair in disarray,suggesting creativefury. 29. See PaulBarolsky, Giotto's Father and the Familyof Vasari's "Lives"(University Park: Pennsylvania State University,1992) for a Katherine A. Mclver, Assistant Professor of Art History, University discussionof these ideas. of Alabama at Birmingham, is continuing her research on Lavinia 30. H. Colin Slim, "Tintoretto'sMusic-Making Women at Dresden," Fontana.

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