Prospero FONTANA
Italian 1509/10–1597
Holy Family with St Jerome, a female martyr and the infant St John
c.1553–55
oil on wood panel
102.2 x 82.8 cm
Felton Bequest 1961
839-5

Prospero Fontana travelled widely in Europe and worked in Florence, Genoa, Rome and Fontainbleau in France, settling in his native Bologna where he became an influential teacher. He studied closely the work of important masters including Michelangelo, Raphael and Parmigiannino, and worked with Vasari.

In this Holy Family, Fontana has built a high degree of tension by crowding the composition with very active figures, almost to the point of claustrophobia. The strong musculature of
St Jerome and the seemingly precarious position
of the Christ child also add to the tension.
Fontana deliberately elongated limbs and manipulated the bodies into artificial positions
to create desirable rhythms of line and colour.

He used strong reds, greens, flesh pink and rose colours to fill and balance this dynamic composition, typical traits of Florentine and Bolognese mannerism.

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