Tag: Sofonisba Anguissola
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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.
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Sofonisba Painted Catalina Micaela, the Lady in Ermine, Infanta of Spain, as a child and an adult
Sofonisba Anguissola first painted Catalina Micaela, Infanta of Spain, the Lady in Ermine, when Catalina Micaela was a child. Sofonisba Anguissola rendered a miniature painting of each Infanta of Spain in a Book of Hours, previously owned by the French King Francois I who passed it to his daughter in law Catherine de Medici on…
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Sofonisba’s Brush Rises to the Level of Titian’s
In 1563, Giovan Paolo Lomazzo praised Sofonisba in his Sogni, “Una femina Cremonese, della quale il nome e’ detto Sofonisba…molti pittori vallenti hanno giudicati quella avere il pennello levato di mano al divino Tiziano…” (Cremona Catalogue, 404). “A Cemonese woman called Sofonisba…many painters judge her brush to be elevated to the level of the divine Titian.”…
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Sofonisba, Spanish Court, September 1559
In September of 1559, Amilcare Anguissola wrote as a devoted and obedient vassal “devotissimo, et ubidiente vassallo” to Philip II, the King of Spain, to accept the summons sent to his very dear daughter Sofonisba “me tanto carissima figliola” to serve as a lady in waiting to the next Queen of Spain “Serenissima nostra Regina”…
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September 1549
In September 1549, the future King of Spain Philip II, paraded through Cremona, Lombardy during a tour of his future realm. Sofonisba Anguissola would have caught her first glimpse of him then, during The Prince’s Parade.
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Sofonisba’s Influence on Giorgio Vasari
The 16th century artist, critic, and historian Giorgio Vasari is best known for his voluminous Lives of the Artists series where he painstakingly documents the biographies and styles of the great Renaissance masters. Master portraitist Sofonisba Anguissola inspired Giorgio Vasari. In 1566, Giorgio went to Cremona in Northern Italy to visit Sofonisba’s childhood home. Sofonisba…
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Sofonisba’s Influence on Diego Velazquez
Maria Kusche and Sylvia Ferino-Pagden have shown the influence of Sofonisba’s Portrait of Margaret of Savoy with Dwarf (c.1595) on two of Diego Velazquez’ pieces: his Portrait of Prince Baltasar Carlos (1632 Boston, Museum of Fine Arts) and his 1656 Las Meninas, particularly in the way Velazquez poses a vessel that passes between the figures.…
Lady In Ermine: The Story of A Woman Who Painted The Renaissance 