Lavinia Fontana’s Birth of the Virgin

Abstract

Youmay not be familiar with Lavinia Fontana’s altarpiece Birth of the Virgin, which hangs in the church of Santissima Trinità in Bologna (fig. 1). However, it is truly extraordinary and deserves more recognition. The seventeenth-century Bolognese art critic Cesare Malvasia referred to it as a “bold gamble that succeeded.” This article confirms his assessment by providing some new references for Lavinia’s work and correcting some misunderstandings that have overshadowed its complexity. In the painting, a crowd of women bustles around the newborn. One womanwarms a towel by the fireplace, another unrolls swaddling bands, and a third places a pot of hot stones under a bed cover to keep it warm.