Sofonisba Anguissola is considered by many to be the first successful female
artist of the Renaissance and the first to attain international fame. Many
feel she opened up the door for future women artists to learn and explore the
art of painting. Herportrait of Queen Isabel with a "flea-fur"
(the pelt of a marten worn to attract the fleas that might in its absence have
attacked the person wearing it), was the most widely copied portrait in Spain.
It was copied by artists such as Pieter Paul Rubens.
Sofonisba was born in Cremona,
Italy in 1532. She had three sisters, all artists like herself. She was the most recognized
of the sisters.
Giorgio Vasari wrote this about the her family:
shown greater application and better grace than any other woman of our age in
her endeavors at drawing; she has thus succeeded not only in drawing, coloring
and painting from nature, and copying excellently from others, but by herself
has created rare and very beautiful paintings."
Sofonisba was unlike most female artists of the 16th century who were
daughters of painters. Artists such as:
She was not able to study anatomy due to her social class, it was deemed
unacceptable for a lady to view nudes. This made it challenging for her
to work on her oversized historical and religious paintings. So, she used
models that she had access to instead, looking for possibilities of a new style
of portraiture, with subjects set in informal everyday settings.
Her earlier works, appear to have been influenced by
the style of the Campi brothers (Vincenzo, Giulio, and Bernardino) , who painted
portraitures. Her work was influenced by paintings of the Italian cities
Parma and Mantua,
who's religious works were made with precision delicacy. Bernardino Gatti is said to have
influenced her to use elements such as those
from the artist Correggio, which started a trend that became
noticeable in the Cremonese style paintings from the early 16th century. These
paintings are very realistic and have an eye catching quality to them.
Her life changed dramatically, when she left her family to join the Spanish
court. Although this was a tremendous recognition for her, it is not
certain if it helped her artistically. She was mainly painting only official
portraits for the court. Her paintings of Isabel de Valois and Anne of
Austria, are vibrant and full of life. It took a tremendous amount of time and
energy to render the intricate designs of the gowns, and the elaborate jewelry
essential to the royal subjects. Her work was so beautiful that it moved
Pope Pius IV to have Sofonisba paint the portrait of the Queen of Spain.
One of her more important works was called a "double
portrait". It depicts Bernardino Campi, her art teacher in the act of
painting a portrait of her. Her image appears on a canvas placed on a
easel, it appears to be an unfinished painting. In this painting she is paying
homage to her teacher, for whom she held in high regard and respected very much.
The focus of the portrait is on Campi. He is portrayed as working
at his favorite pastime, painting. Although this work has gotten darker
with age and is difficult to see, Campi's arm and right hand, can be seen
holding a paint brush, that is held steady by the hand rest, a stick used so
as not to smudge the work in progress.
In 1554, at age twenty-two, Sofonisba traveled to Rome. In
Rome, she stayed with her family, as her father had planned. She spent time
touring Rome and sketching various scenes, and people. While she was there,
she met Michelangelo through the help of another painter who knew her work
well. I would assume that meeting Michelangelo was a great honor for Sofonisba. While all of her work and training was done
outside the master workshops, where male artists were trained, she had the
benefit of being informally trained by Michelangelo. He gave her
sketches of his own to draw in her own style, and she would send her sketches
to him, asking for his advice. For at least two years while in Rome, she
continued this informal study, receiving substantial guidance from
Michelangelo made a request for her to draw a weeping boy, which she did with enthusiasm. The sketch she made for this
assignment would continue to be discussed and copied for the next fifty years
among artists and the aristocracy. Giorgio Vasari wrote this about the weeping
"One could not see a more graceful or realistic drawing than this
one. Since she lives in Spain and Italy does not possess copies of her works, I
have placed it in our sketchbook in memory of Sofonisba's
While traveling home to Cremona, Sofonisba would meet Orazio Lomellino, the
captain of the ship she was traveling on. They both felt very strongly about
each other, and were married shortly afterwards, in January of 1580 in Pisa,
Italy. The marriage was a happy one; her husband recognized and supported her in
her artwork. They would settle in Genoa, where her husband's family lived in
their large home. She had time to paint, since she had her own quarters,
and an art studio. Many artists of that time came to visit, to learn, and to
discuss the arts with her. She had now developed her own style, which many
up and coming artists were eager to mimic. Her great success inspired other women of the
Renaissance to pursue the career of artist.
She had always been interested in religion, and in her later years she began
to paint religious themes, as she had done in the days of her youth. Through the
years, many of her religious paintings have been lost. In the early 1600's, when
she was roughly seventy-nine, she painted a self-portrait that showed her with a
book in her right hand, and a piece of parchment paper in her left. Her wrinkled
forehead and an almost playful expression in this setting is in direct contrast
to the self-portrait done ten years later where she appears more subdued looking,
with her raised right eye looking directly at the viewer, as if she was asking a
In 1623, Anguissola was visited by the Flemish painter Sir Anthony Van
who had painted several portraits of her in the early 1600's, and recorded
sketches from his visits to her in his sketchbook. Van Dyck drew her portrait
while visiting her, this was to be the last portrait made of Sofonisba. The very
next year, she returned to Sicily, where she died at the age of about
ninety-three in Palermo. She was buried there in Palermo in 1625.
Seven years later, on the anniversary of what would have been her 100th birthday had she lived, her husband placed an inscription on her tomb. That reads, in part:
Sofonisba, my wife...who is recorded among the illustrious women of the world,
outstanding in portraying the images of man... Orazio Lomellino, in sorrow for
the loss of his great love, in 1632, dedicated this little tribute to such a
Her work can be viewed at the following museums and art galleries:
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
- Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, Italy
- Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
- Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy
From the photographs I have viewed of her works, she was truly a talented
painter. Many other painters copied her style, but none will ever be as good as
More information on other lesser known female artists can be
Source: Women Artists. 1st ed. : Ruggio Publishing, 1977.