Sofonisba Anguissola
Italian Renaissance painter who broke barriers for women artists
Her contemporary Giorgio Vasari wrote that she showed greater application and better grace than any other woman of her age in drawing and painting.[1] Born in 1532 in Cremona, Sofonisba Anguissola was an Italian Renaissance painter whose family, though noble, was relatively poor.[2][3] In 1559, she accepted a role as lady-in-waiting and art instructor to Queen Elisabeth of Valois at the court of King Philip II of Spain.[4]
Quick Facts
- Born
- c. 1532
- Birthplace
- Cremona, Duchy of Milan
- Died
- 16 November 1629
- Place of death
- Palermo, Kingdom of Sicily
- Field
- Portrait painting, drawing
- Training
- Bernardino Campi; Bernardino Gatti
- Movement
- Late Renaissance
- Patrons
- Philip II of Spain
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Anguissola was the oldest of seven children, and her father Amilcare encouraged all his daughters to cultivate their talents.[3][5] At age fourteen she and her sister Elena were sent to study with painter Bernardino Campi.[6][7] In 1554 she traveled to Rome and was introduced to Michelangelo, who gave her sketches from his notebooks to draw in her own style.[8] She never sold a single one of her paintings.[7]
Her early works were self-portraits that testified to her "discreta modestia" and constructed herself as a woman of virtue.[7] Her husband died in 1579, and she later married ship captain Orazio Lomellino in Pisa on 24 December 1584.[9] Anthony van Dyck, a young Flemish painter, visited Anguissola in Palermo on 12 July 1629 and created a portrait of her.[10]
What the cited sources add
The oneonta.edu account states that Lomazzo in his 1564 Libro de Sogni called Anguissola's portraits "so like life they seem to conform to nature itself".[7] The same source notes that Anguissola regularly identified herself as a virgin in her signatures and would have clearly identified herself with the Virgin Mary.[7] Mary Garrard's discussion of the double portrait with Campi calls attention to a 1554 letter characterizing Anguissola as "the beautiful Cremonese painter, your creation".[7] The oneonta.edu account claims that after Michelangelo and Titian, Anguissola may have been the best-known court artist in the Cinquecento.[7]
A documentary reassessment by Carla Rossi confirmed the date of Van Dyck's visit as 12 July 1629.[10]
References
- Wikipedia, "Sofonisba Anguissola" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vasari. p. 36 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sofonisba Anguissola" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Great women artists", Phaidon Press, 2019, p. 35; Gamberini, "Sofonisba Anguissola", Lund Humphries Publishers Limited, 2024; Carla Rossi, 1532–1629: le date di nascita e di morte di Sofonisba Anguissola, “pittora de natura et miraculata”, tra la peste di Palermo e il culto di Santa Ro (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sofonisba Anguissola" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sofonisba Anguissola Biography, Art, & Facts", Encyclopedia Britannica (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sofonisba Anguissola" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Weidemann, "50 Women Artists You Should Know", Prestel, 2008, p. 14, 15 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sofonisba Anguissola" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Life and Works of Sofonisba Anguissola, Noblewoman, Portraitist of Philip II", Hubpages (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sofonisba Anguissola" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sofonisba Anguissola Biography, Art, & Facts", Encyclopedia Britannica; Campori, "Gli Artisti Italiani E Stranieri negli Stati Estensi - Catalogo Storico Corredato Di Documenti Inediti", R.D. Camera; "Life and Works of Sofonisba Anguissola, Noblewoman, Portraitist of Philip II", Hubpages; Greer, "The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work", Farrar, 1978, p. 180; Glenn, "Sofonisba Anguissola: History's Forgotten Prodigy", Women's Studies, 1990, p. 296 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Sofonisba Anguissola", www.oneonta.edu. facts only, no text reused. oneonta.edu
- Wikipedia, "Sofonisba Anguissola" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Michelangelo Buonarroti and his women", The Florentine, 2 November 2017; "Sofonisba Anguissola Biography, Art, & Facts", Encyclopedia Britannica (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sofonisba Anguissola" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Life and Works of Sofonisba Anguissola, Noblewoman, Portraitist of Philip II", Hubpages; "Sofonisba Anguissola Biography, Art, & Facts", Encyclopedia Britannica; Tanzi, Marco. "Anguissola." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 May 2014.; "Life and Works of Sofonisba Anguissola, Noblewoman, Portraitist of Philip II", Hubpages (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sofonisba Anguissola" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Carla Rossi, “The date of the meeting between Antoon Van Dyck and Sofonisba Anguissola in Palermo”, Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts, 5, no. 2 (2021); Tanzi, Marco. "Anguissola." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 May 2014.; Adriani, "Anton Van Dyck: Italienisches Skizzenbuch", Schroll, 1940 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Sofonisba Anguissola (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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