Week Five

~ In the Baroque period that we have been focusing on, they keep talking about the physical art- drawing and painting. My favorite part of the baroque period is the MUSIC! I love playing baroque music on my violin. Just knowing they used an entirely different bow than I do now amazes me, they had a whole other sphere of playing than I am even capable of copying on my french bow. It's awesome.

~ My artist that I have, Lavinia Fontana, though there wasn't much information about her, I learned a lot. She was a total punk without trying to be. She was a crazy feminist without trying to be. She became one of the most famous painters of that time, people flocked at her trying to get her to paint them. She painted noblewomen, Popes, scholars, it was awesome! She was the first woman to be accepted into an exclusive art club pretty much. Amazing. I admire her and her eye for detail.

~I learned that having school spirit is awesome. And it puts me in a good mood :)

Lavinia Fontana Essay

Lavinia Fontana was born in Bologna, Italy; which was one of the major art centers of the world. She was born on August 24, 1554 to a famous painter, Prospero Fontana, who painted at the School of Bologna and was her art teacher. She became a painter, as her father was. She was one of the most sought after painters of the time. She mostly worked She worked with the famous, the noble, and the religious persons of Europe of that time; such as Pope Clement VIII. She also worked with two other famous popes; Pope Gregory XIII and Pope Paul V. Her most famous paintings were of noble women. She married at the age of twenty-five, to a famous painter of the time, Paolo Zappi; they worked together, but he ended up taking care of their eleven children more, leaving her to paint her genius.

Female painters at the time were not uncommon. But the Lavinia was more than just a female painter of the time; she was a phenomena. She was famous all throughout Europe for her portraits and was incredibly sought after. She was the first woman to be accepted into the prestigious Accademia di San Luca; which is an organization of painters in Rome, where she traveled sometimes to paint. onuncommon thing about Lavinia was that she was not in a convent while painting; because many women painters of the time were nuns in Roman-Catholic convents. It was very common for women of this time to paint just plain old portraits of people and themselves; but she took it to the next level by painting the way that men painted. After she painted regular paintings, she started painting more and more religious symbols and mythological themes. She was kind of a risqué woman of that time. I like that about her.

She was taught by her father, and adopted his style of painting, which were portraits. Her main forms of portraits were portraits of others, though she did do one self-portrait.  She also dabbled in religious symbols, still in portrait form, and mythological ideas, they say that she was a very good interpreter of these things. Her most famous paintings were of scholars of universities and the noble women of the cities. She was so incredibly sought after, that the rich overly paid her to have a painting done of them, or their family; such as the detailed portraits of Gerolamo Mercuriale, the Coozzadini family, a Lady with Lap Dog, and many, many more.

The Baroque period was mostly about religious art. The Roman-Catholic Church, in response to the Protestant Reformation decided to hire many artists to paint religious pictures as a desperate attempt to bring people back to the church. That was a lot of what Lavinia Fontana painted! She painted many religious paintings such as Consecration to the Virgi; Assumption of the Virgin with Saints Peter Chrysologus, and Cassian; Holy Family; Birth of Virgin; and Jesus among the Doctors. A woman painting for the Roman Catholic Church was pretty unheard of at the time, and she was VERY sought after from the church. She moved to Rome just to paint for Pope Clement VIII.

She also had an eye for detail. The baroque period was all about detail, and she was all for it. Detail and still live were a huge part of the Baroque period. If you look at her portrait of a noblewoman, all the tiny little sequins on her dress are visible.

Lavinia influences art in today’s culture because she was one of the first feminists in a way. She went against the norm for women of her time, and did her own thing and thrived in it! So many women of today wish they had the power to change art as she did; but it’s practically impossible. She showed the world that women can do amazing things without beings judged by her sex, she was judged by her talent.

I really like reading about Lavinia Fontana because she was a woman painter of the time. And she ended up being extremely successful! I find that incredible cool because usually only men were famous. She showed the world and future generations that women can really make a humungous difference in the world today. I also think that it was so awesome that she could continue her career in painting while raising such a huge family! She could have just quit her career to care for her family, but she wouldn’t have it. She knew that she could only be happy by having them both; a successful career and a huge family.

Symbolic sides of colors

White:   emptiness,      invisibility,   cleanliness,  goodness


Black:   the beginning,    the end,   evil,   regrets,   mourning


Grey/Brown:   earth,   aging,   dirtiness,   original


Yellow:   happiness,   sunshine,   new life,   optimism,    


Orange:   energy,   enthusiasm,   randomness,   health


Red:   trials,   saved,   classic,   love


Green:   envy,   nature,   growing,   life


Blue:   water,   cold,   relaxing,   calming


Violet:   royalty,   wisdom,   boldness,   inspiring