Artist
Sofonisba Anguissola
Portrait Group with the Artist’s Father Amilcare Anguissola and her Siblings Minerva and
- Sofonisba Anguissola (Italian, 1532–1625)
- Oil on canvas, 157 x 122 cm
- 1558–1559
- Nivaagaards Malerisamling, Denmark; acquired 1873
- Sofonisba Anguissola (Italian, 1532–1625)
- Oil on canvas, 72 x 92 cm
- 1555
-
Raczyński Foundation, National Museum, Poznań
The Artist
Sofonisba Anguissola, an Italian noblewoman, was an artistic prodigy. In her lifetime, her talent was noted by Michelangelo, Vasari
Learn more about Anguissola’s painting Portrait Group with the Artist’s Father Amilcare Anguissola and her Siblings Minerva and
Upcoming/recent exhibitions featuring Sofonisba Anguissola:
In 2020/21, the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Detroit Institute of Arts collaborate to present “By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500–1800.” The organizers’ intent is to introduce to the public a “diverse and dynamic” group of female Old Masters, including not only Gentileschi but also court artist Sofonisba Anguissola, printer and painter Elisabetta Sirani, and other talented, but now virtually unknown, women artists. Dates are still tentative, but the exhibition is likely to open in Hartford in October 2021, and in Detroit in February 2022. Exhibition
In celebration of its 200th anniversary, Madrid’s Prado museum put on an exhibition of works by two Renaissance women artists, Lavinia Fontana
Books about Sofonisba Anguissola
Nonfiction
Sofonisba’s Lesson: A Renaissance Artist and Her Work, by Michael W. Cole (Princeton University Press, 2020)
A Tale of Two Women Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana (exhibition catalog, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2019)
Sofonisba Anguissola: The First Great Woman Artist of the Renaissance, by Ilya Sandra Perlingieri (Rizzoli, 1992)
Sofonisba Anguissola: A Renaissance Woman, by Sylvia Ferino-Pagden with Maria Kusche (National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1995)
Fiction
Lady in Ermine: The Story of a Woman who Painted the Renaissance, by Donna Di Giuseppe (Bagwyn Books, 2019)
Sofonisba: Portraits of the Soul, by Chiara Montani (Independently published, 2019)
The Secret Life of Sofonisba Anguissola, by Melissa Muldoon (Matta Press, 2020)
Learn more online about Sofonisba Anguissola at:
The Art Herstory blog:
Renaissance Women Painting Themselves, by Katherine McIver
A Tale of Two Women Painters, by Natasha Moura
Sotheby’s: Explore >
National Museum of Women in the Arts: Explore >
Europeana Collections: Explore >
Smarthistory: Explore >
The Art Story: Explore >
Jill Burke’s blog: Explore >
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