Category: Sofonisba’s Life
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Sofonisba’s Philip II
In honor of Sofonisba Anguissola’s new-found celebrity, I wanted to place her Prado Portrait of Philip II alongside her Portrait of a Spanish Prince (San Diego Museum of Art). Sofonisba did not know Philip as a young child, but perhaps she could envision him as one. As Giorgio Vasari says, Sofonisba had invenzione. Perhaps she…
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Lady in Ermine
The Renaissance of Sofonisba Anguissola (2019) What a year 2019 was for Sofonisba Anguissola. Sofonisba realized her own Renaissance in 2019. She was championed by the Prado Museum in Madrid with its exhibition A Tale of Two Women Painters or Historia de Dos Pintoras, that ran starting October 22, 2019. She was dramatized in Lady in…
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Sofonisba and her Portrait of Philip II, King of Spain
On this day, October 21st, in 1561, Sofonisba sent her regrets to Bernardino Campi, “Molto Magnifico Signor Bernardino,” her first trainer, explaining that she could not yet send him a portrait of the king. “Non posso al presente servirlo, come saria mio desiderio.” She was occupied painting the king’s sister Juana and Queen Isabel. In…
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Sofonisba or El Greco? Sofonisba Cradle to Grave
The details of Sofonisba Anguissola’s life show that she had the physical and geographical opportunity to paint a mature Catalina Micaela that her male contemporaries El Greco and Coello did not being far away in Spain. Sofonisba also had personal insight into the Infanta’s private world to render the Infanta of Spain, Catalina Micaela, as…
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Sofonisba and King Philip II at the Prado Museum
Philip II King of Spain was fond of Sofonisba and admired her work, praising her in words and gold. In the final days of 1579, Sofonisba married Orazio Lomellini, a ship captain from a prominent Genoan family, without obtaining the consent of her family. Even though her marriage to Orazio began as a quasi-elopement, King…
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Women’s National Book Association at the Book Passage, Ferry building San Francisco October 12, 2019
I am honored to participate in the Women’s National Book Association panel at the Book Passage, San Francisco location at the Ferry Building to discuss Hidden Histories and Remarkable Women’s Stories You Won’t Forget. Sofonisba’s story is certainly that. I hope you can join us, 3-4:00 Saturday October 12, 2019 to discuss remarkable women in…
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Who Painted the Lady in Ermine? Sofonisba or El Greco? Biography not Brushstrokes convinces: It’s Sofonisba, Cradle to Grave
The details of Sofonisba Anguissola’s life show that she had the physical and geographical opportunity to paint a mature Catalina Micaela that her male contemporaries El Greco and Coello did not being far away in Spain. Sofonisba also had personal insight into the Infanta’s private world to render the Infanta of Spain, Catalina Micaela, as…
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Sofonisba Was Not Always Forgotten
In 1774, Giambattista Zaist wrote Notizie Istoriche de’ Pittori, Scultori, ed Architetti Cremonesi or Historical Notes of Painters, Sculptors, and Architects of Cremona. For seven pages he writes about the accomplishments of Sofonisba Anguissola, recounting her early years, her time in Spain, her long legacy. He concludes with these words, “che superò l’artifizio non solo…
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Sofonisba in the Seventeenth Century
Sofonisba Anguissola continued painting well into her senior years and stopped only after her eyesight failed, as Anthony van Dyck noted in his sketchbook. The Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo attributes this sweet Madonna and Child to Sofonisba in the seventeenth century.
Lady In Ermine: The Story of A Woman Who Painted The Renaissance 