Death of the Painter Lavinia Fontana

Self-Portrait at the Spinet (1577) by Lavinia Fontana

---

On August 11th 1614, the painter Lavinia Fontana (b. 1552) died in Rome. 

Lavinia Fontana, the daughter of the Mannerist painter Prospero Fontana (1512-97), was born in Bologna where she lived until moving to Rome in 1604. There she became the first woman to be admitted to the prestigious Accademia di San Luca, the city's academy of painters. sculptors and architects. 

The academy is home to her painting Self-portrait at the Spinet. The inscription in the top left corner reads in translation: 'Lavinia, the unmarried daughter of Prospero Fontana, took this, her image, from the mirror, 1577'. This indicates that it was painted before her marriage that year to Giovan Paolo Zappi, a fellow pupil of her father. 

The couple went on to have eleven children; only three of which outlived their mother. 

Lavinia Fontana painted an altarpiece for a chapel in the church of Santa Sabina. 

---