Sofonisba Anguissola – The Pride of Italian Renaissance Painting – Sewing Machines Los Angeles

Late Italian Renaissance (14th-17th centuries) portrait painter Sofonisba Anguissola was born in 1532, to Amilcare Anguissola (member of Genoese minor nobility) and Bianca Ponzone (also from a noble background), at Cremona, Lombardy. She was the eldest of seven siblings, six of whom were girls. Amilcare always encouraged his children to cultivate and hone their talents, which resulted in four of them becoming painters. Of these Sofonisba was the most accomplished and famous one.

The artist had her first formal art education at Cremona under the guidance of a renowned Italian Renaissance portrait and religious artist Bernardino Campi (1522-91). In 1550, she painted one of her most famous early works, a double portrait ‘Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola.’ Upon Campi’s relocation to another city in around the same year, another Italian Renaissance painter Bernardino Gatti was her next mentor during approximately 1551-53.

Not allowed to cover history & religious paintings due to the then prevailing gender bias, the artist evolved her portraiture skills. Sofonisba was best known for her portraits of various famous people. Her talent was evident since an early age when she painted ‘Self-Portrait’ in 1554. The same year, Anguissola moved to Rome, where she painted people and places. Here she met the greatest Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo (1475-1564) through a friend. The great maestro informally trained her for around a couple of years. Her very important sketch work ‘Child Bitten by a Crab’ (1555) impressed Michelangelo, which she drew as per the master’s request of a crying boy’s drawing. He gave her several of his own sketches to mould them in her own drawing style. This helped her learn a lot in developing her own sketch style. The wonderful portraits of her family – ‘Lucia, Minerva and Europa Anguissola playing chess’ (1555) and ‘Family Portrait’ (1557-58) – further established her competence.

In 1558, she traveled to Milan and covered the Duke of Alba. Impressed, the Duke referred her to the King Philip II of Spain (1527-98), who ruled the country from July 1554 until death. Stunned with her work, the King invited Sofonisba in 1559, to join the Spanish Court in Madrid. Definitely a huge elevation, the artist had a successful stint here for eighteen years and covered the Royal Spanish Family. Her portraits of ‘Queen Elisabeth of Spain’ and ‘Prado Phillip II’ are her milestone works here.

In 1571, Philip II arranged Sofonsiba Anguissola’s marriage with Don Francisco de Moncada, son of the Viceroy of Sicily. After her wedding, she travelled extensively with her husband in Italy, soon returning to Spain. With the due permission of the King, in 1578, the couple settled down in Palmero, Italy, where Don died in 1579. In 1580, she married a much younger Captain of ships Orazio Lomellino, in Pisa. They had a long and blissful marital association, with Orazio fully supporting and encouraging her talent. The artist died on November 16, 1625 at Palermo.

Sofonisba was a revolutionary as she was the one of the first female painters to achieve success and fame. That too, in a male dominated niche. She inspired several famous female artists to take up art seriously. She is credited to having painted over 50 paintings in her long and illustrious career. Her paintings are displayed in several reputed art galleries in Bergamo, Budapest, Madrid, Naples, Sienna, and Florence.