Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker

Lavinia Fontana, Judith with the Head of Holofernes (detail), 1600 , Museo Davia Bargellini, Bologna, Italy.

A ground-breaking artist of her time, late sixteenth-century Bolognese artist Fontana is widely considered to be the first woman artist to achieve professional success beyond the confines of a court or a convent. Fontana was the first woman to manage her own workshop, and the first woman to paint public altarpieces and female nudes. She maintained an active career, painting for many illustrious patrons, while also taking on the role of wife and mother. Exploring Fontana’s extraordinary life through her paintings and drawings, the exhibition will offer insight into the cultural climate that enabled her to flourish as a female artist of the period.

Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker is the first monographic exhibition to examine Fontana’s work in over two decades, and the first to focus on her portraits. It will bring together a selection of her most highly regarded works from international public and private collections, alongside the artist’s celebrated The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, from the Gallery’s own collection.

Listen to Athena’s recording of a conversation between the exhibition’s curator, Dr Aoife Brady, and Jonquil O’Reilly, and watch a short with clips from it from our Instagram feed