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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Article
Lavinia Fontana’s Galatea: Personification of Fortune and Venus
Author(s)
Liana De Girolami Cheney
Full-Text PDF
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DOI:10.17265/2159-5836/2020.01.006
Affiliation(s)
SIELAE, Universidad de Coruña, Spain
ABSTRACT
Lavinia Fontana’s (1552-1614) Galatea and Cherubs riding the Stormy Waves on a Sea Monster (aka Galatea) of 1590 is an intriguing mythological painting. Being painted on copper, it is a fine example of Lavinia’s exploration of new artistic techniques and materials as well as testimony to her bold artistic interpretations. Lavinia’s Galatea was part of a private collection in Bologna (Diletta Badeschi). This work fascinates the viewer with its erotic audacity and complex iconographical conceits. Recent scholarship by Daniele Benati, Fausto Gozzi, and Enrico Maria Dal Pozzolo assist in unraveling the meaning of this painting. In this essay there are additional interpretative suggestions.
KEYWORDS
mannerism, emblems, engravings, mythology, sea monsters, symbolism, Lavinia Fontana, Marcantonio Raimondi, Achille Bocchi, Andrea Alciato, Vincenzo Cartari, Galatea, Fortune, Venus
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References
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Alciato, A. (1549). Los Emblemas. Lyons: Macé Bonhomme for Guillaume Rouille.
Alciato, A. (1621). Emblemata. Padua: Petro Paulo Tozzi,
Aldrovandi, U. (1642/2002). Mostrorum Historia (Theatrum Sapientia). Paris: Belles Lettres.
Barker, S. (2020). Exhibition Review: ‘A Tale of Two Women Painters. Burlington Magazine https://www.academia.edu/41653667/Exhibition_Review_A_Tale_of_Two_Women_Painters.
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Bianchi, I. (2008). La politica delle immagine nell’età della Contrariforma. Gabriele Paleotti teoretico e committente. Bologna: Compositori.
Brown, C., & Evans, M. (Eds.). (2011). Raphael: Cartoons and Tapestries for the Sistine Chapel. London: Victoria and Albert Museum.
Cartari, V. (1556/1571). Le imagini degli dei degli antichi. Venice: Francesco Marcolini.
Cartari, V. (1600-1608). Le imagini degli dei degli antichi. Padua: Pietro Paulo Tozzi.
Cast, D. (2011). The Delight of Art: Giorgio Vasari and the Tradition of Humanist Discourse. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Cheney, L. D. G. (2015). Lavinia Fontana’s Nude Minervas. Woman’s Art Journal, 36(2) (Fall/Winter), 30-40.
Costa, E. (1903). Andrea Alciato allo studio di Bologna. Bologna: Nicola Zanichelli.
Dal Pozzolo, E. M. (2009a). Un apice erotico di Lavinia Fontana. Treviso: ZeLEdizioni.
Dal Pozzolo, E. M. (2019b). Lavinia’s Mars and Venus. In L. R. Gómez (Ed.), A tale of two women painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana. Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado.
Daly, P. M. (Ed.). (1989). Andrea Alciato and the Emblem Tradition. Essays in Honor of Virginia Woods Callahan. New York: AMS Press.
Danieli, M. (2016). Pittura erotica tra Bologna e Praga: aggiunti a Denys Calvert e Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn. Czech and Slovak Journal of Humanities, 3, 39-52.
Fairbanks, A. (Trans.). (1931). Philostratus the younger, images. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, Loeb.
Fortunati Pietrantonio, V. (Ed.). (1986). Pittura Bolognese del ’500, (2 Vols). Bologna: Grafis.
Gozzi, F. (2019). Catalogue and Cherubs riding the Stormy Waves on a Sea Monster. In L. R. Gómez (Ed.), A tale of two women painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana. Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado.
Hall, J. (1974/2014). Dictionary of subjects and symbols in art. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers.
Hemming, A. (2008). The new technique of painting on copper. In M. Roth et al., Capture emotions: Baroque paintings in Bologna 1575-1725. Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty.
Howard, D. (1997). Venice as a Dolphin: Further investigations into Jacopo de’ Barbari’s View. Artibus et Historiae, 18(35), 101-111.
Jay, P. (Ed.). (1973/1981). The Greek anthology and other ancient epigrams. Philadelphia, PA: Allen Lane.
Komanecky, M. (Ed.). (1988-1999). Copper as Canvas: Two centuries of Masterpiece painting on Copper, 1575-1775. Phoenix, AZ: Phoenix Art Museum.
Lorenz, A. (2002). The Theater of nature, or, curiosity filled the cabinet. Bologna; Novelties of Purpose.
Manning, H. (2002). The emblem. Edinburg: Reaktion Books.
Martin, C. (Trans.). (2005). Metamorphoses: New translation. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Massari, S. (1983). Giulio Bonasone (2 Vols). Rome: Quasar.
Muñoz Simonds, P. (1994). To the Very Heart of Loss: Renaissance Iconography in Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra. In L. Barroll (Ed.), Shakespeare studies (Vol. 22). London: Associated University Presses.
Murphy, M. (2003). Lavinia Fontana. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Olmi, G., & Prodi, P. (1986). Gabriele Paelotti, Ulisse Aldrovandi, e la cultura a Bologna nel secondo Cinquecento. Nell’Eta di Correggio e dei Carracci: Pittura in Emilia dei Secoli XVI e XVII. Bologna: Nuova Alpha.
Olszewski, E. J. (2000). Drawings by Luca Cambiaso as a Late Renaissance model of invenzione. Cleveland Studies in the History of Art, 5 (2000), 20-41.
Paleotti, G. (1582). Discorso intorno alle immagine sacre e profane. Bologna: Alessandro Benacci.
Robinson, D. M. (1946). The wheel of fortune. Classical Philology, 41(4), 207-216.
Ruffini, M. (2009). A dragon for the pope: Politics and emblematics at the court of Gregory XIII. Memories of the American Academy in Rome, 54, 83-105.
Seznec, J. (1972). Survival of the Pagan Gods. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Valeriano, G. P. (1556). Hieroglyphica. Basel: Michael Isengrin.
Watson, E. (2004). Achille Bocchi and emblem books. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Whitaker, L., & Clayton, M. (2010). Prospero Fontana. The art of Italy in the royal collection: Renaissance and Baroque. London: The Royal Collection Trust.
White, J., & Shearman, J. (1958). Raphael’s tapestries and their cartoons. The Art Bulletin, 40(3), 193-221.
Wood, A. (2008). Of wing and wheels: A synthetic study of the Biblical Cherubim. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Alciato, A. (1549). Los Emblemas. Lyons: Macé Bonhomme for Guillaume Rouille.
Alciato, A. (1621). Emblemata. Padua: Petro Paulo Tozzi,
Aldrovandi, U. (1642/2002). Mostrorum Historia (Theatrum Sapientia). Paris: Belles Lettres.
Barker, S. (2020). Exhibition Review: ‘A Tale of Two Women Painters. Burlington Magazine https://www.academia.edu/41653667/Exhibition_Review_A_Tale_of_Two_Women_Painters.
Barocchi, P. (Ed.). (1960/1962). Trattati d’arte fra manierismo e contrariforma. Bari: Laterza.
Barolsky, P. (1978). Infinite Jest: Wit and humor in Italian renaissance art. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.
Benati, D. (2009). Un quadro grande con donne nude: da Joachim Wtewael a Lorenzo Sabatini. In D. Benati, (Ed.), Il più dolce lavorare che sia: mélanges enl’honneur de Mauro Natale. Milan: Silvana.
Bianchi, I. (2008). La politica delle immagine nell’età della Contrariforma. Gabriele Paleotti teoretico e committente. Bologna: Compositori.
Brown, C., & Evans, M. (Eds.). (2011). Raphael: Cartoons and Tapestries for the Sistine Chapel. London: Victoria and Albert Museum.
Cartari, V. (1556/1571). Le imagini degli dei degli antichi. Venice: Francesco Marcolini.
Cartari, V. (1600-1608). Le imagini degli dei degli antichi. Padua: Pietro Paulo Tozzi.
Cast, D. (2011). The Delight of Art: Giorgio Vasari and the Tradition of Humanist Discourse. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Cheney, L. D. G. (2015). Lavinia Fontana’s Nude Minervas. Woman’s Art Journal, 36(2) (Fall/Winter), 30-40.
Costa, E. (1903). Andrea Alciato allo studio di Bologna. Bologna: Nicola Zanichelli.
Dal Pozzolo, E. M. (2009a). Un apice erotico di Lavinia Fontana. Treviso: ZeLEdizioni.
Dal Pozzolo, E. M. (2019b). Lavinia’s Mars and Venus. In L. R. Gómez (Ed.), A tale of two women painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana. Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado.
Daly, P. M. (Ed.). (1989). Andrea Alciato and the Emblem Tradition. Essays in Honor of Virginia Woods Callahan. New York: AMS Press.
Danieli, M. (2016). Pittura erotica tra Bologna e Praga: aggiunti a Denys Calvert e Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn. Czech and Slovak Journal of Humanities, 3, 39-52.
Fairbanks, A. (Trans.). (1931). Philostratus the younger, images. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, Loeb.
Fortunati Pietrantonio, V. (Ed.). (1986). Pittura Bolognese del ’500, (2 Vols). Bologna: Grafis.
Gozzi, F. (2019). Catalogue and Cherubs riding the Stormy Waves on a Sea Monster. In L. R. Gómez (Ed.), A tale of two women painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana. Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado.
Hall, J. (1974/2014). Dictionary of subjects and symbols in art. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers.
Hemming, A. (2008). The new technique of painting on copper. In M. Roth et al., Capture emotions: Baroque paintings in Bologna 1575-1725. Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty.
Howard, D. (1997). Venice as a Dolphin: Further investigations into Jacopo de’ Barbari’s View. Artibus et Historiae, 18(35), 101-111.
Jay, P. (Ed.). (1973/1981). The Greek anthology and other ancient epigrams. Philadelphia, PA: Allen Lane.
Komanecky, M. (Ed.). (1988-1999). Copper as Canvas: Two centuries of Masterpiece painting on Copper, 1575-1775. Phoenix, AZ: Phoenix Art Museum.
Lorenz, A. (2002). The Theater of nature, or, curiosity filled the cabinet. Bologna; Novelties of Purpose.
Manning, H. (2002). The emblem. Edinburg: Reaktion Books.
Martin, C. (Trans.). (2005). Metamorphoses: New translation. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Massari, S. (1983). Giulio Bonasone (2 Vols). Rome: Quasar.
Muñoz Simonds, P. (1994). To the Very Heart of Loss: Renaissance Iconography in Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra. In L. Barroll (Ed.), Shakespeare studies (Vol. 22). London: Associated University Presses.
Murphy, M. (2003). Lavinia Fontana. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Olmi, G., & Prodi, P. (1986). Gabriele Paelotti, Ulisse Aldrovandi, e la cultura a Bologna nel secondo Cinquecento. Nell’Eta di Correggio e dei Carracci: Pittura in Emilia dei Secoli XVI e XVII. Bologna: Nuova Alpha.
Olszewski, E. J. (2000). Drawings by Luca Cambiaso as a Late Renaissance model of invenzione. Cleveland Studies in the History of Art, 5 (2000), 20-41.
Paleotti, G. (1582). Discorso intorno alle immagine sacre e profane. Bologna: Alessandro Benacci.
Robinson, D. M. (1946). The wheel of fortune. Classical Philology, 41(4), 207-216.
Ruffini, M. (2009). A dragon for the pope: Politics and emblematics at the court of Gregory XIII. Memories of the American Academy in Rome, 54, 83-105.
Seznec, J. (1972). Survival of the Pagan Gods. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Valeriano, G. P. (1556). Hieroglyphica. Basel: Michael Isengrin.
Watson, E. (2004). Achille Bocchi and emblem books. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Whitaker, L., & Clayton, M. (2010). Prospero Fontana. The art of Italy in the royal collection: Renaissance and Baroque. London: The Royal Collection Trust.
White, J., & Shearman, J. (1958). Raphael’s tapestries and their cartoons. The Art Bulletin, 40(3), 193-221.
Wood, A. (2008). Of wing and wheels: A synthetic study of the Biblical Cherubim. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.