Portrait of Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585), three-quarter-length, seated

Born Ugo Boncompagni, the sitter was elected Pope on 13 May 1572 and is celebrated for commissioning the Gregorian calendar in 1582. Lavinia Fontana was the first Italian female artist to achieve renown both in Italy and abroad. She was trained in the workshop of her father, Prospero Fontana, one of the leading Bolognese exponents of Mannerism. Although she followed the style of her father in the depiction of historical scenes, she developed an independent style in her portraits, combining the formality of central Italian models with the naturalistic tendencies of the northern Italian tradition.