Portrait of Minerva Anguissola is a c. 1564 oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian painter Sofonisba Anguissola, now in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. Stefano Zuffi (ed.), La pittura in Lombardia. Dall'età spagnola al neoclassicismo, Milano, Electa, 2000, SBN IT\ICCU\BVE\0038751. Chapters by Marco Carminati and others. Sofonisba Anguissola e le sue sorelle, Milano, Leonardo Arte, 1994, SBN IT\ICCU\RER\0011916.
Its subject is believed to be the artist's sister, Minerva Anguissola, not to be confused with her older sister Elena Anguissola who took the name of "Sister Minerva" upon entering holy orders at the convent of San Vincenzo in Mantua. In comparison, one can see Elena Anguissola, painted as a novice by Sofonisba Anguissola in Portrait of Elena Anguissola. Angela Ghirardi, Una ricerca iconografica nel cenacolo delle Anguissola: i ritratti di Minerva, 1992, pp 509–511 Flavio Caroli, Sofonisba Anguissola e le sue sorelle, Milano, A. Mondadori, 1987, pp 158–159, SBN IT\ICCU\CFI\0111864.
However some art historians argue that the painting is in fact a self-portrait produced during the artist's stay in Spain. Luise F. Pusch, Susanne Gretter, Un mondo di donne: trecento ritratti celebri, Milano, NET, 2006, SBN IT\ICCU\CFI\0681774. Edizione italiana a cura di Maria Gregorio; introduzione di Natalia Aspesi.
See also List of paintings by Sofonisba Anguissola
References