Many portraits by Lavinia Fontana are in the private collections of Italian families for whom they were painted.  In the Gallery of Bologna there is a night-scene, the “Nativity of the Virgin,” by her, and in the Escorial is a Madonna lifting a veil to regard the sleeping Jesus, while SS.  Joseph and John stand near by.

In the churches of San Giacomo Maggiore and of the Madonna del Baracano, both in Bologna, are Fontana’s pictures of the “Madonna with Saints.”  In Pieve di Cento are two of her works—­a “Madonna” and an “Ascension.”  It is said that several pictures by this artist are in England, but I have failed to find to what collections they belong.

Lavinia Fontana was a distinguished woman in a notable age, and if, in translating the tributes that were paid her by the authors of her day, we should faithfully render their superlatives, these writings would seem absurd in their exaggerations, and our comparatively cold adjectives would be taxed beyond their power of expression.

FONTANA, VERONICA. Born in 1576.  A pupil of Elisabetta Sirani, who devoted herself to etching and wood-engraving.  She is known from her exceedingly fine, delicate portraits on wood and etchings of scenes from the life of the Madonna.

FOORD, MISS J. A painter of plants and flowers, which are much praised.  An article in the Studio, July, 1901, says:  “Miss Foord, by patient and observant study from nature, has given us a very pleasing, new form of useful work, that has traits in common; with the illustrations to be found in the excellent botanical books of the beginning of the nineteenth century.”  After praising the works of this artist, attention is called to her valuable book, “Decorative Flower Studies,” illustrated with forty plates printed in colors.

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FOOTE, MARY HALLOCK. Born in Milton, New York.  At New York School of Design for Women this artist studied anatomy and composition under William Rimmer, and drawing on wood and black and white under William J. Linton.  Mrs. Foote is a member of the Alumni of the School of Design.

Her illustrations have been exhibited by the publishers for whom they were made.  In the beginning her work was suited to the taste and custom of the time.  She illustrated the so-called “Gift Books” and poems in the elaborate fashion of the period.  Later she was occupied principally in illustrations for the Century Company and Houghton, Mifflin & Co.  Mrs. Foote writes that Miss Regina Armstrong—­now Mrs. Niehaus—­in a series of articles on “Women Illustrators of America,” whom she divided into classes, placed her with the “Story-Tellers.”

FORBES, MRS. STANHOPE. Mr. Norman Gastin, in an article upon the work of the Royal Academician, Stanhope Forbes, in the Studio, July, 1901, pays the following tribute to the wife of the artist, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Armstrong: