ACQUISITION
The Georgia Museum of Art recently acquired “Holy Family,” an oil-on-copper painting by an artist in the circle of Lavinia Fontana (1552 Bologna – 1614 Rome).
“HOLY FAMILY”
Purchased in honor of former museum director William Underwood Eiland and his late partner Andrew Ladis, the work showcases Fontana’s influence and impact in Bologna and beyond. Ladis taught art history at the Lamar Dodd School of Art from 1987 to 2007, where his scholarship focused on Renaissance artists. Together with Eiland, he helped make the University of Georgia and its art museum well known for research on Italian art of the period. Fontana trained with her father, Prospero Fontana, and quickly achieved independent success in Bo- logna, a city that boasted a thriving artistic scene. From the 1580s until the early 1600s, Fontana was the portraitist of choice among Bolognese nobil- ity. Later, when she moved to Rome, she became a painter at the papal court and the recipient of numerous honors. Her legacy extended beyond her lifetime and Italy, and her art has sparked renewed scholarly attention and collector interest; a major exhibition, “Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker,” was held at the National Gallery of Ireland in 2023. This painting shows the lasting impact of Par- migianino (1503 – 1540), an artist known for his graceful and inventive compositions who had been active in Bologna and whose work Fontana would have surely studied. The work also points to the influence of Northern Italian artists such as Antwerp-born painter Denis Calvaert (1540 – 1619), who apprenticed under Fontana’s father and specialized in paintings on copper. This oil resembles one of Fontana’s paintings of the same subject, also on copper, and was likely made by an artist working within her close circle. Mary, standing at the center of the composition, turns her head toward the sleeping infant Jesus while lifting a translucent veil to cover him. The young St. John the Baptist holds a reed cross and bows over the child, while St. Joseph appears in the left background in prayer. This image beauti- fully evokes both the tender bond between mother and son and the Christ Child’s destiny. The small scale further enhances the intimate nature of the scene and suggests that it was created for pri- vate devotion. The artist masterfully rendered the lavish quality of the figure’s garments, and the copper support lends a particular luminescence to the picture.
Circle of Lavinia Fontana (Bologna 1552 – 1614 Rome), “Holy Family.” Oil on copper, 8 3/8 × 6 3/8 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase with funds provided by Amburn Power in honor of Andrew Ladis and William Underwood Eiland. GMOA 2023.304.
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