Sofonisba Anguissola (also Sophonisba Angussola or Anguisciola; – 16 November 1629Carla 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 Rosalia, in Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts, Issue 10, Nr. 2, 2026, pp. 10–38, .) was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Cremona to a relatively poor noble family. She received a well-rounded education that included the fine arts, and her apprenticeship with local painters set a precedent for women to be accepted as students of art. As a young woman, Anguissola travelled to Rome where she was introduced to Michelangelo, who immediately recognized her talent, and to Milan, where she painted Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba. The Spanish queen, Elizabeth of Valois, was a keen amateur painter, and in 1559 Anguissola was recruited to go to Madrid as her tutor, with the rank of lady-in-waiting. After the Queen's death, Philip helped arrange an aristocratic marriage for her. She moved to Sicily, and later Pisa and Genoa, where she continued to practice as a leading portrait painter.
Her most distinctive and attractive paintings are her portraits of herself and her family, which she painted before she moved to the Spanish court. In particular, her depictions of children were fresh and closely observed. At the Spanish court, she painted formal state portraits in the prevailing official style. Later in her life she also painted religious subjects, although many of her religious paintings have been lost. In 1629, she died at age 97 in Palermo.
Anguissola's example, as much as her oeuvre, had a lasting influence on subsequent generations of artists, and her great success opened the way for larger numbers of women to pursue serious careers as artists. Her paintings can be seen at galleries in Boston (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), Milwaukee (Milwaukee Art Museum), Bergamo, Brescia, Budapest, Poznań, Madrid (Museo del Prado), Warsaw, Naples, and Siena, and at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Her contemporary Giorgio Vasari wrote that Anguissola "has shown greater application and better grace than any other woman of our age in her endeavours at drawing; she has thus succeeded not only in drawing, colouring and painting from nature, and copying excellently from others, but by herself has created rare and very beautiful paintings."Vasari. p. 36
Family
The origin and the name of the noble Anguissola family are linked to an ancient Byzantine tradition, rich in historical details.
According to this tradition, the Anguissolas are descended from the Constantinopolitan warlord Galvano Sordo or Galvano de Soardi/Sourdi (Σούρδη, a family name still in use today in Greece, Constantinople and Smyrna). In 717, Galvano served in the army of the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian, and "with an ingenious artificial fire, contributed to liberate the city of Constantinople from the Saracens who had kept it besieged by land and sea". This "artificial fire" was the so-called Greek fire, an incendiary weapon developed in the late 7th century, which was responsible for many key Byzantine military victories, most notably the salvation of Constantinople from two Arab sieges, thus securing the Empire's survival.
Since the shield of the Sourdi carried the effigy of an asp (in Latin: anguis), after Galvano's victory over the Umayyads, his brothers-in-arms and the people of Constantinople exclaimed: "Anguis sola fecit victoriam!", i.e.: "The snake alone brought the victory!" This saying became very popular, and Galvano himself was nicknamed "Anguissola". The Emperor eventually bestowed the Anguissola surname to all his descendants. In this regard, it has been suggested that the monogram depicted on Anguissola's miniature self-portrait may contain the family motto "Anguis sola fecit victoriam" or, more simply, the name of Anguissola's father, Amilcare.
Fleeing from a pestilence that raged in Constantinople, the descendants of the first Anguissola settled in Italy, intermarried with other noble families such as the Komnenoi, the Gonzagas, the Caracciolos, the Scottis and the Viscontis, and built autonomous estates in Piacenza, Cremona, Vicenza and other regions of Italy. The Anguissolas who settled in the Republic of Venice belonged to the patriciate of its capital, Venice from 1499 to 1612.
Childhood and training
Sofonisba Anguissola was born into a poor but ancient Italian noble family in Cremona, Lombardy in 1532, the oldest of seven children, six of whom were girls. Her father, Amilcare Anguissola, was a member of the Cremonese nobility, and her mother, Bianca Ponzone, was also of noble background. The family lived near the site of a famous 2nd century B.C. battle, the Battle of the Trebia, between the Romans and Carthaginians, and several members of the Anguissola family were named after ancient Carthaginian historical characters: Amilcare was named for the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca; he named his first daughter after the tragic Carthaginian figure Sophonisba and his only son Asdrubale after the warlord Hasdrubal Barca. Amilcare Anguissola, inspired by Baldassare Castiglione's book The Book of the Courtier, encouraged all his daughters (Sofonisba, Elena, Lucia, Europa, Minerva and Anna Maria) to cultivate and perfect their talents. Four of her sisters (Elena, Lucia, Europa and Anna Maria) also became painters, but Sofonisba was by far the most accomplished and renowned and taught her younger siblings. Elena ( – 1584) abandoned painting to become a nun. Both Anna Maria and Europa gave up art upon marrying, while Lucia (1536 or 1538 – 1565–1568), the best painter of Sophonisba's sisters, died young. The remaining sister, Minerva, became a writer and Latin scholar. Asdrubale, Sophonisba's brother, studied music and Latin, but not painting.
Her aristocratic father made sure that Anguissola and her sisters received a well-rounded education that included the fine arts. Anguissola was fourteen when her father sent her and her sister Elena to study with Bernardino Campi, a respected portrait and religious painter of the Lombard school. When, in 1550, Campi moved to Milan, Anguissola continued her studies with painter Bernardino Gatti (known as Il Sojaro), a pupil of Correggio's. Anguissola's apprenticeship with local painters set a precedent for women to be accepted as students of art. Dates are uncertain, but Anguissola probably continued her studies under Gatti for about three years (1551–1553).
One of Anguissola's most important early works was Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1550). The unusual double portrait depicts Anguissola's art teacher in the act of painting a portrait of her.
In 1554, at age twenty-two, Anguissola travelled to Rome, where she spent her time sketching various scenes and people. While in Rome, she was introduced to Michelangelo by another painter who was familiar with her work. Anguissola initially showed Michelangelo a drawing of a laughing girl, but the painter challenged her to draw a weeping boy, a subject which he felt would be more challenging. Anguissola drew Child Bitten by a Lobster and sent it back to Michelangelo, who immediately recognized her talent. Michelangelo subsequently gave Anguissola sketches from his notebooks to draw in her own style and offered advice on the results. For at least two years, Anguissola continued this informal study, receiving substantial guidance from Michelangelo.
Experiences as a female artist
Anguissola's education and training had different implications from those of men, since men and women worked in separate spheres. Her training was not to help her into a profession where she would compete for commissions with male artists, but to make her a better wife, companion, and mother.Sylvia Ferino-Pagden and Maria Kusche, Sofonisba Anguissola: A Renaissance Woman, (Washington D.C.: National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1995). Although Anguissola enjoyed significantly more encouragement and support than the average woman of her day, her social class did not allow her to transcend the constraints of her sex. Without the possibility of studying anatomy or drawing from life (it was considered unacceptable for a lady to view nudes), she could not undertake the complex multi-figure compositions required for large-scale religious or history paintings.
Instead, she experimented with new styles of portraiture, setting subjects informally. Self-portraits and family members were her most frequent subjects, as seen in such paintings as Self-Portrait (1554, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), Portrait of Amilcare, Minerva and Asdrubale Anguissola (c. 1557–1558, Nivaagaards Malerisambling, Nivå, Denmark), and her most famous picture, The Game of Chess (1555, National Museum in Poznań), which depicted her sisters Lucia, Minerva and Europa. Painted when Anguissola was 23 years old, The Game of Chess is an intimate representation of an everyday family scene, combining elaborate formal clothing with very informal facial expressions, which was unusual for Italian art at this time. The Game of Chess explored a new kind of genre painting, which places her sisters in a domestic setting instead of the formal or allegorical settings that were popular at the time. This painting has been regarded as a conversation piece, which is an informal portrait of a group engaging in lively conversation or some activity.
Anguissola's self-portraits also offer evidence of what she thought her place was as a woman artist. Normally, men were seen as creative actors and women as passive objects, but in her self-portrait of 1556, Anguissola presents herself as the artist, separating herself from the role of the object to be painted.Mary Garrard, "Here's Looking at Me: Sofonisba Anguissola and the Problem of the Woman Artist," Renaissance Quarterly 47, no. 3:(1994): 556. Additional pieces show how she rebels against the notion that women are objects, in essence, an instrument to be played by men. Her self-portrait of 1561 shows her playing an instrument, taking on a different role.Mary Garrard, "Here's Looking at Me: Sofonisba Anguissola and the Problem of the Woman Artist," Renaissance Quarterly 47, no. 3:(1994): 557. In her later portraits, she represents multiple statuses by using a double portrait image, portraying herself as an artist or a wife.
She became well known outside of Italy, and in 1559, King Philip II of Spain asked her to be a lady-in-waiting and art teacher to Queen Elisabeth of Valois, who was only 14 at the time. Following the death of Queen Elisabeth of Valois nine years into their acquaintance, Anguissola chose to depart from the court. The two had developed a close relationship, and the Queen’s passing served as the primary reason for her departure. She had painted the entire royal family and even the Pope commissioned Anguissola to do a portrait of the Queen.
At the Spanish Court
In 1558, already established as a painter, Anguissola went to Milan, where she painted Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba. He in turn recommended her to the Spanish king, Philip II. The following year, Anguissola was invited to join the Spanish Court, which was a turning point in her career.
Anguissola was approximately 26 when she left Italy to join the Spanish court. In the winter of 1559–1560, she arrived in Madrid to serve as a lady-in-waiting to the new queen, Elisabeth of Valois, Philip's third wife, who was herself an amateur portraitist. Anguissola soon gained Elisabeth's admiration and confidence and spent the following years painting many official portraits for the court, including Philip II's sister, Joanna, and his son, Don Carlos.