ملف:Lavinia Fontana - Self-Portrait at the Spinet - WGA07985.jpg

(b. 1552, Bologna, d. 1614, Roma)

Self-Portrait at the Spinet 1577 Oil on canvas, 27 x 24 cm Accademia di San Luca, Rome

Lavinia Fontana specialized in portraits and was the first woman accepted into the prestigious Accademia di San Luca, the organization of painters, in Rome. Of her self-portraits, one of the most interesting seems to be this marriage portrait.

Sitting on the spinet is a piece of coral carved into the shape of a love-knot, a symbol of betrothal. The inscription on the painting, "Lavinia, the unmarried daughter of Prospero Fontana, took this, her image, from the mirror, 1577," indicates that the painting was made before Fontana's marriage that same year to Giovan Paolo Zappi, a fellow pupil in his father's studio. They had eleven children, and it is said that Zappi assisted her by painting the backgrounds in some of her works.

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Author: FONTANA, Lavinia Title: Self-Portrait at the Spinet Time-line: 1551-1600 School: Italian Form: painting