Page:Women in the Fine Arts From the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentiet.djvu/197

128 orable mention, Paris Salon, 1892; gold medal at Rouen Exposition, 1893; third-class medal, Salon, 1896; bronze medal, Paris Exposition, 1900. Officer of the Academy, 1896; Officer of Public Instruction, 1902. Member of the Société des Artistes Français, Paris; Société de l’Union Artistique, du Pas-de-Calais, at Arras; corresponding member of the Academy of Arras. Pupil of Jules Lefebvre and Benjamin-Constant.

Mlle. Fontaine paints portraits only—of these she has exhibited regularly at the Salons for sixteen years. Among her sitters have been many persons of distinction, both men and women.

At the Salon of 1902 she exhibited her own portrait, in 1903, portraits of MM. René et Georges D. The Journal des Arts, giving an account of the exhibition at Rheims, summer, 1903, says: "The portraits here are not so numerous as one might expect, but they are too fine to be overlooked. Mile. Jenny Fontaine has, for a long time, held a distinguished place as a portraitiste in our Salons, and two of her works are here: a portrait of a young girl and one of General Jeanningros."

Fontana, Lavinia. Born in Bologna, 1552. Her father was a distinguished portrait painter in Rome in the time of Pope Julius III., but the work of his daughter was preferred before his own. She was elected to the Academy of Rome, while her charms were extolled in poetry and prose. Pope Gregory XIII. made her his painter-in-ordinary. Patrician ladies, cardinals, and Roman nobles contended for the privilege of having their portraits from her hand.