In honor of Women’s History Month, we find out about trailblazer Lavinia Fontana, a celebrity artist in Renaissance Italy. Her portraits were all the rage among the nobility of Bologna and with the help of a supportive (and broad-minded) husband/business manager, she became the first professional woman artist. 

 

SHOW NOTES

“A Long Look” opening and closing themes are by Ron Gelinas: “Ascension” https://youtu.be/jGEdNSNkZoo and “Easy” https://youtu.be/2QGe6skVzSs

 

Episode music: “Rondeau” and “My Mistress is as Fine as Faire ” performed by John Sayles

“Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 - 13 - Variatio 12 Canone alla Quarta” composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Kimiko Ishizaka. 

http://www.jsayles.com/familypages/earlymusic.htm

https://musopen.org/music/4107-goldberg-variations-bwv-988/

 

Artwork information 

https://nmwa.org/art/collection/portrait-noblewoman/

 

Self-portrait 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15883827

 

Lavinia Fontana information

https://www.nga.gov/press/acquisitions/2022/lavinia-fontana.html https://www.nga.gov/stories/lavinia-fontana-and-lucia-bonasoni-garzoni-two-professional-women.html https://www.theartstory.org/artist/fontana-lavinia/

 

National Museum for Women in the Arts https://nmwa.org/

https://nmwa.org/nmwa-at-home/

 

Lavinia Fontana: Pioneering Painter of the 16th Century (Getty)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgeDGtF11KY

 

Lavinia Fontana of Bologna, 1552-1614

Catalog for exhibition of the same name, National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1998

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