French and Flemish artists, such as Leonard Thiry (died
c. 1550), who was strongly influenced by Rosso and Pri-
maticcio. In the late 1530s Francis set up looms at
Fontainebleau to weave the tapestries designed for the Ga-
lerie François I. Sebastiano SERLIOwas invited in 1540
from Venice to contribute architectural embellishments.
Although many of their decorations were later lost or
damaged, Francis’s artists introduced numerous ideas of
the Italian Renaissance and provided the basis of the in-
ternational mannerist style.
The second school of Fontainebleau was established
under HENRY IV, but never equalled the impact of its pre-
decessor. Henry greatly enlarged the château, adding the
Cours des Offices and the Cours des Princes and land-
scaping the grounds. Artists of the second Fontainebleau
school included the Flemish painter Ambroise Dubois
(1543–1614), Toussaint Dubreuil (1561–1602), and Mar-
tin Fréminet (1567–1602).
Fontana, Annibale (c. 1540–1587) Italian sculptor and
medalist
He was active in and around Milan, making two statues
for the dome piers of Sta. Maria presso San Celso and
some very fine candelabra for the Certosa di Pavia (1580).
Among his portrait medals is one of LOMAZZO.
Fontana, Domenico (1543–1607) Italian architect and
engineer
Born at Melide, near Lugano, he was probably in Rome by
1563 and by 1574 he was working for Cardinal Montalto
(Felice Peretti), who in 1585 was elected Pope Sixtus V.
Fontana thus became architect to the papacy and the fol-
lowing year he achieved fame by transporting the Egypt-
ian obelisk formerly in the Circus Nero to its present site
outside St. Peter’s. This feat of engineering, which he de-
scribed in an illustrated folio volume entitled Della
trasportatione dell’obelisco Vaticano... (1590), marked the
start of the extensive replanning, demolition, and building
that he carried out in Rome. One major work was the
completion, with Giacomo DELLA PORTA, of the dome of St.
Peter’s from Michelangelo’s model (1586–90). Fontana is
not considered to have been a great architect and he has
been accused of destroying or spoiling a number of build-
ings better than his own; his Sistine library (1587–90) in
the Vatican, for example, mars BRAMANTE’s Belvedere
court. Fontana even considered converting the Colosseum
into a wool factory. Pope Clement VIII dismissed him
from his post for misappropriating public money (1592),
after which Fontana worked in Naples, mainly on the
Palazzo Reale, remaining there until his death.
Fontana, Lavinia (1552–1614) Italian painter
The daughter and pupil of Prospero FONTANA, she married
(1577) the painter Gian Paolo Zappi, by whom she had 11
children in 18 years. The couple lived and worked at her
father’s studio but Fontana rapidly outstripped her less
talented husband, so much so that he gave up his career to
support her work as a society painter. Her prolific output,
of which 135 paintings survive, ranges from secular
works, such as Self-Portrait Seated at Her Desk (1579) and
Portrait of a Noblewoman (1580), to numerous church
commissions, historical canvases, and altarpieces. The lat-
ter includes The Stoning of St. Stephen, for the church of
San Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome, and Holy Family with the
Sleeping Christ, commissioned in 1591 by PHILIP IIof Spain
for the Escorial. After her father’s death Fontana trans-
ferred her studio to Rome, where she became official
painter to the papal court and was patronized by popes
Gregory XIII and Clement VIII. She maintained successful
workshops in Bologna and Rome, was elected to the Rome
Academy, and was one of the few independent women
professionals of the period to achieve significant fame and
riches.Fontana, Prospero (1512–1597) Italian painter
A native of Bologna, Fontana traveled widely and assisted
a number of notable artists on decorative projects, includ-
ing Pierino del Vaga, Giorgio VASARI, and Federico ZUC-
CARO. Painting in a strongly mannerist style, he worked in
such artistic centers as Genoa, Rome, Florence, and
Fontainebleau, where he assisted PRIMATICCIO(c. 1560),
but he is chiefly associated with the Bolognese school.
Fontana was the earliest teacher of Lodovico CARRACCI,
while his other pupils included his own daughter Lavinia
(see FONTANA, LAVINIA), whose fame as a portraitist ulti-
mately eclipsed that of her father.Fonte, Moderata (Modesta Pozzo) (1555–1592) Italian
writer
Fonte was born in Venice and lost both her parents, prob-
ably to plague, while still a baby. She received an unusu-
ally good education and continued her studies after her
marriage to Giovanni Nicolò Doglioni, who encouraged
her to write. In 1581 she published a volume of 13 poems
using the pen name Floridoro and Le feste, a dramatic
work that had been presented before the doge. Her other
works include religious writings.
Fonte is now best known for Il merito delle donne
(1600), a witty prose treatise arguing that women are the
superior sex. This belongs to a late 16th-century genre of
works in which a group debates the merits of the sexes,
but it inverts the usual format by making the speakers
women and the main theme the deficiencies of men. Fonte
herself is usually identified with Corinna, the most forth-
right of the speakers. Modern feminist criticism has
shown particular interest in Fonte’s argument that men
have appropriated language itself, making it very difficult
for women to articulate their experience in its own terms.
Fonte completed this provocative work shortly before her
death in childbirth, and it was published posthumously.FFoonnttee,, MMooddeerraattaa 1 18855