Lavinia Fontana was taught painting by her father, and became one of the earliest examples of a woman with an independent career in art that supported her family. She became very well-known for her portraits and her devotional art. 

Research:

• Bohn, Babette. “Women Artists, Their Patrons, and Their Publics in Early Modern Bologna.” Pennsylvania State University Press. 2021.
• Villa, Angelica. “National Gallery of Victoria Acquires Lavinia Fontana Painting to Address ‘Gender Imbalance.’” ARTnews. Feb. 8, 2022. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/national-gallery-of-victoria-lavinia-fontana-acquisition-1234618453/
• National Gallery of Ireland. “Part 1: Introducing the Lavinia Fontana Conservation and Research Project.” Aug. 22, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N0nv40TzEk
• National Gallery of Ireland. “Conservation treatment of Lavinia Fontana's painting.” https://www.nationalgallery.ie/explore-and-learn/conservation-and-research-projects/lavinia-fontana-conservation-and-research-0
• Casoni, Felice Antonio. “Medal.” The British Museum. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_G3-IP-370
• Lupi, Livia. “This Day in History: August 11.” Italian Art Society. August 11, 2016. https://www.italianartsociety.org/2016/08/lavinia-fontana-died-on-11-august-1614-in-rome/
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Lavinia Fontana". Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Aug. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lavinia-Fontana
• Sanchez, Francisco Del Rio. “Where did the Queen of Sheba rule—Arabia or Africa?” National Geographic. June 7, 2021. https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2021/06/where-did-the-queen-of-sheba-rule-arabia-or-africa
• McIver, Katherine A. “Renaissance Women Painting Themselves.” Art Herstory. June 8, 2019. https://artherstory.net/self-portraits-by-renaissance-women-artists/
• Murphy, Caroline P. “Lavinia Fontana and ‘Le Dame Della Città’: Understanding Female Artistic Patronage in Late Sixteenth-Century Bologna.” Renaissance Studies, vol. 10, no. 2, 1996, pp. 190–208. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24412268
• “Mannerism.” National Gallery of Art. https://www.nga.gov/features/slideshows/mannerism.html