Artist

Sofonisba Anguissola

Portrait Group with the Artist’s Father Amilcare Anguissola and her Siblings Minerva and Astrubale

• Sofonisba Anguissola (Italian, 1532–1625)
• Oil on Canvas, 157 x 122 cm
• 1558–1559
• Nivaagaards Malerisamling, Denmark; acquired 1873

The Artist

Sofonisba Anguissola, an Italian noblewoman, was an artistic prodigy. In her lifetime, her talent was noted by Michelangelo, Vasari and Van Dyck. Unusually for a woman—her father was a humanist with forward-thinking ideas about the educating and training women—so he permitted her to train as a painter. As a young woman, she spent some years in the court of Philip II, in Spain. Initially she was a lady-in-waiting to the Spanish queen, Elizabeth of Valois; then she was a court painter. Philip eventually gave her a lifelong pension. While a few of her extant works touch on religious themes, most are portraits. She was particularly sought after as a portrait artist, because she had a special gift for capturing on canvas the personalities of her subjects. Her surviving works, which are held in museums all over the world, include at least 16 self-portraits, from all stages of her life (from young to old).  According to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston website, she “executed more self-portraits than any other artist in the period between Dürer and Rembrandt.”

Learn more about Anguissola’s painting Portrait Group with the Artist’s Father Amilcare Anguissola and her Siblings Minerva and Astrubale: Nivaagaards Malerisamling

Upcoming Exhibition featuring Sofonisba Anguissola:

In celebration of its 200th anniversary, Madrid’s Prado museum has announced an exhibition of works by two Renaissance women artists, Lavinia Fontana and Sofonisba Anguissola. The exhibition is due to open in October 2019. Exhibition

Learn more online about Sofonisba Anguissola at:

Sotheby’s: Explore >

National Museum of Women in the Arts: Explore >

Europeana Collections: Explore >

Smarthistory: Explore >

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