Lavinia Fontana

diameter: 4 ½ in.

10.8 cm

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 28 January 1999, lot 210;

Where acquired by the present collector.

The first professional female artist to oversee her own workshop, Lavinia Fontana executed this captivating tondo in the late 1570s or early 1580s. At this early moment in her career, Fontana produced several diminutive portraits on copper, most notably her Self-Portrait in the Artist’s Studio, signed and dated 1579 (Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi). Fontana’s portraits, celebrated for their vivid attention to detail, received particular acclaim during her lifetime. In the present work, she rendered the young woman’s distinct hairstyle, pearl earrings, and gold chain necklaces with special care. Artists frequently gave such piccolo pitture, or petite pictures, to prominent collectors and potential patrons as gifts and although the sitter’s identity remains unknown, she was likely a member of Bologna’s cultural elite.