This re-discovered portait of Antonietta Gonzales by Lavinia Fontana is at Rob Smeets Gallery of Geneva on Stand 348 at TEFAF Maastricht which runs until March 14. Like her father and siblings Antonietta suffered from hypertrichosis or werewolf syndrome, a genetic disease that causes invasive hair growth. Her father Petrus Gonzales was offered to Henri II, King of France, as a gift for his coronation and worked at the royal court under the title Monsieur Sauvage. His eventual marriage to Catherine Raffelin, Antonietta’s mother, is believed to be the basis for the story of Beauty and the Beast.
Lavinia Fontana, regarded as the first professional woman artist in European art history, is able to capture the tenderness of the ten year old Antonietta with a clear empathy between artist and sitter.