Lavinia Fontana
The Holy Family with Saint Catherine of Alexandria1581

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Oil painting of a haloed woman holding a nude infant flanked by a bearded elderly man and a young crowned woman holding a dark bowl

Artist or Maker: Lavinia Fontana
Italy, Bologna, 1552-1614
Title: The Holy Family with Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Date Made: 1581
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Canvas: 43 × 34 3/4 in. (109.22 × 88.27 cm) Framed: 51 × 44 × 4 in. (129.54 × 111.76 × 10.16 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation
Accession Number: M.2011.2
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture
Curatorial Notes: Renowned as a portraitist and a painter of religious subjects, Lavinia Fontana captured the splendor of Bolognese fashions in her meticulous representation of textiles and adornments. Here, a glistening, translucent veil frames the Madonna’s face, wraps around her collar, and cascades onto the infant Christ’s thigh. Arms outstretched in the prayerful orante pose, she gazes downward at the child, who bestows a blessing on the kneeling Saint Catherine. She in turn wears an intricate jewel- and pearl-encrusted crown attached to a similarly delicate veil pinned at the shoulder with a floral brooch; the ring on her right hand, which grips the spiked wheel emblematic of her martyrdom, symbolizes her mystical marriage to Christ. This impressive rendition of the Holy Family was likely commissioned for a private chapel. The storyline is crystallized in a few expressions, motifs, and gestures, while the infant’s proximity to the picture plane focuses the devout beholder’s attention, creating an intimate connection.

By 1604, Lavinia’s fame had spread across the Italian peninsula. Pope Clement VIII summoned the artist to Rome, where she became the favored artist of Roman and Bolognese aristocrats. Her devotional paintings were informed by investments in religious imagery local to Bologna. Prior to establishing her own practice, she apprenticed to her father, who was closely associated with the religious and artistic principles of Cardinal Paleotti (r. 1582−97). Paleotti advocated for clarity in religious paintings, a marked departure from artworks that favored sensual distortions of the figure and visually complex compositions. Lavinia’s straightforward depictions of religious subjects suggests her adherence to the cardinal’s treatise, Discourse on Sacred and Profane Images (1592), in which he elucidated the legibility and simplicity mandated by the Council of Trent.

2024
Provenance: Charles-Jean de Bertin (1716–1774), bishop of Vannes (1746–74), by 1757. James Edward Harris (1807–1889), 3rd Earl of Malmesbury,(1) by 1868, by inheritance to; Lord Malmesbury (probably James Edward Harris, 5th Earl of Malmesbury [1872–1950]) (sale, London, Christie’s, 4 May 1925, lot 9, sold to); [Fritze].(2) Anonymous (sale, Stockholm, Bukowski, 9–12 Nov. 1966, lot 139, ill., sold to); anonymous, given 1967 to a Swedish religious institution. (Sale, Stockholm, Stockholms Auktionsverk, 26 Nov. 2009, lot 2275, sold to); [Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York, sold 2011 to]; LACMA.
Footnotes
(1) He served as foreign secretary and as Lord Privy Seal, the office he held in 1868, when the painting was lent to Leeds.
(2) Probably a reference to Fritzes Houbokhandel (Art Galleries and Book Stores), Stockholm.
Selected Bibliography: Lehmbeck, Leah, editor. Gifts of European Art from The Ahmanson Foundation. Vol. 1, Italian Painting and Sculpture. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019.
Straussman-Pflanzer, Eve, and Oliver Tostmann, eds. By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500-1800. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 2021.
Galli, Romeo. Lavinia Fontana: Pintora (1552-1614). Madrid: Archivos Vola, 2019.

Related Unframed

Lavinia Fontana
The Holy Family with Saint Catherine of Alexandria1581

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Artist or Maker: Lavinia Fontana
Italy, Bologna, 1552-1614
Title: The Holy Family with Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Date Made: 1581
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Canvas: 43 × 34 3/4 in. (109.22 × 88.27 cm) Framed: 51 × 44 × 4 in. (129.54 × 111.76 × 10.16 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation
Accession Number: M.2011.2
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture
Curatorial Notes: Renowned as a portraitist and a painter of religious subjects, Lavinia Fontana captured the splendor of Bolognese fashions in her meticulous representation of textiles and adornments. Here, a glistening, translucent veil frames the Madonna’s face, wraps around her collar, and cascades onto the infant Christ’s thigh. Arms outstretched in the prayerful orante pose, she gazes downward at the child, who bestows a blessing on the kneeling Saint Catherine. She in turn wears an intricate jewel- and pearl-encrusted crown attached to a similarly delicate veil pinned at the shoulder with a floral brooch; the ring on her right hand, which grips the spiked wheel emblematic of her martyrdom, symbolizes her mystical marriage to Christ. This impressive rendition of the Holy Family was likely commissioned for a private chapel. The storyline is crystallized in a few expressions, motifs, and gestures, while the infant’s proximity to the picture plane focuses the devout beholder’s attention, creating an intimate connection.

By 1604, Lavinia’s fame had spread across the Italian peninsula. Pope Clement VIII summoned the artist to Rome, where she became the favored artist of Roman and Bolognese aristocrats. Her devotional paintings were informed by investments in religious imagery local to Bologna. Prior to establishing her own practice, she apprenticed to her father, who was closely associated with the religious and artistic principles of Cardinal Paleotti (r. 1582−97). Paleotti advocated for clarity in religious paintings, a marked departure from artworks that favored sensual distortions of the figure and visually complex compositions. Lavinia’s straightforward depictions of religious subjects suggests her adherence to the cardinal’s treatise, Discourse on Sacred and Profane Images (1592), in which he elucidated the legibility and simplicity mandated by the Council of Trent.

2024
Provenance: Charles-Jean de Bertin (1716–1774), bishop of Vannes (1746–74), by 1757. James Edward Harris (1807–1889), 3rd Earl of Malmesbury,(1) by 1868, by inheritance to; Lord Malmesbury (probably James Edward Harris, 5th Earl of Malmesbury [1872–1950]) (sale, London, Christie’s, 4 May 1925, lot 9, sold to); [Fritze].(2) Anonymous (sale, Stockholm, Bukowski, 9–12 Nov. 1966, lot 139, ill., sold to); anonymous, given 1967 to a Swedish religious institution. (Sale, Stockholm, Stockholms Auktionsverk, 26 Nov. 2009, lot 2275, sold to); [Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York, sold 2011 to]; LACMA.
Footnotes
(1) He served as foreign secretary and as Lord Privy Seal, the office he held in 1868, when the painting was lent to Leeds.
(2) Probably a reference to Fritzes Houbokhandel (Art Galleries and Book Stores), Stockholm.
Selected Bibliography: Lehmbeck, Leah, editor. Gifts of European Art from The Ahmanson Foundation. Vol. 1, Italian Painting and Sculpture. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019.
Straussman-Pflanzer, Eve, and Oliver Tostmann, eds. By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500-1800. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 2021.
Galli, Romeo. Lavinia Fontana: Pintora (1552-1614). Madrid: Archivos Vola, 2019.

Related Unframed

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