SofonisbaAnguissola

Alicia García, 2º A

INDEX1. Introduction2. Childhood3. Teachers4. Familiar scenes and self-portraits5. In Felipe's II Court6. Death of the queen Isabel of Valois7. Last portraits in the Court8. Marriage9. Genova10. Palermo11. Anonymous work12. The painter in Prado Museum13. Bibliography

1. IntroductionSofonisba Anguissola is one of the most important female painters of the Renaissance.She was the painting teacher of the Court of Felipe II and she made many portraits for the Spanish royal family.

Some of her works were copied by great painters (like Rubens). She is one of the few female painters that has paintings exhibited in the Prado Museum.

2. ChildhoodSofonisba was born in Cremona (Italy) in 1532.She was the daughter of a noble family. Her father was called Amilcare Anguissola and her mother Bianca Ponzone. She was the oldest of 7 brothers.

Amilcare Anguissola Bianca Ponzone

3. Teachers Anguissola couldn't study human

anatomy or paint images like nude paintings because of being woman.

Her main teachers were:

Bernardino CampiIn 1543, Sofonisba began to receive painting classes with 11 years approximately.Her father enrolled her in the workshop of Bernardino Campi (the most famous school in Cremona).

1559. Bernardino Campi painting Sofonisba Anguissola

Bernardino GattiAnguissola entered in the workshop of Bernardino Gatti in 1549. She collaborated in the fresco “The miracle of the loaves and the fishes” of Gatti, painting the faces of the characters.

Giulio ClovioHer third teacher was the miniaturist Giulio Clovio, he was born in Croatia. Sofonisba received classes about the art of making miniatures until 1556.

1528. Giulio Clovio. Self-portrait 

1556-7. Giulio Clovio 1556. Self-portrait in miniature

Michelangelo

Little girl teaching reading

Child bitten by a crab

When she was 22 years old, Sofonisba travelled to Rome and she met Michelangelo.

She received advices and lessons from the great painter.

She sent the next drawings to Michelangelo :

4. Familiar scenes and self-portraits

At this time she made paintings of familiar scenes in which she portrayed her brothers, her father or her.They are scenes of daily life, with intimate and very human gestures.Another of the favourite themes of that period were the portraits.

1558. Portrait of the family1555. Chess game

1555. Self-portrait with easel1554. Self-portrait playing the spinet

5. In Felipe's II CourtWith help of the Duke of Alba, Anguissola went to the Spanish Court to be the painting teacher and the bridesmaid of Isabel of Valois (third wife of Felipe II).With 27 years, the painter arrived to Guadalajara with her maid, Cornelia Appiani, after a trip of forty days.

Guadalajara The wedding of Felipe II and Isabel of Valois was

going to be celebrated in Guadalajara and the painter arrived to the city in November of 1559. The royal couple was married in the Palace of “El Infantado” the 29 of January of 1560.

Palace of “El Infantado” - Guadalajara

ToledoIn 1560 the Court was established in Toledo. There, Sofonisba began to give painting lessons to the queen.

Cuadro realizado en España para enviar a su familia

1561. Self-portrait playing the spinet with a maid (Cornelia Appiani)

MadridIn 1561 Felipe II decided to move the Court to Madrid.Besides being the lady in waiting and teacher of the queen, Sofonisba portrayed most of the people around her : the kings, the princess Juana (sister of the king), the prince Carlos (son of the king and heir to the throne), Alejandro Farnesio (nephew of Felipe II) and, later, the infantas.

 

1560? (1601?). Portrait of a young woman. Lázaro Galdiano Museum, Madrid

1561. Portrait of the princess Juana with a little girl

1561. Alejandro Farnesio

1563. Isabel of Valois holdinga portrait of Felipe II.Prado Museum 

6. Death of the queen Isabel of Valois

In 1568 Felipe II accused his son, the prince Carlos, of betrayal, and he imprisoned him in the Alcazar of Madrid, where he died.The queen also died the same year (with 22 year). In 1569 the king got married  for the fourth time with his niece Ana of Austria.

  The situation of Anguissola didn't change and he took care of the education of the infantas Isabel Clara Eugenia and Catalina Micaela (daughters of Felipe II and Isabel of Valois). The portraits of the girls were very demanded because in that moment they occupied the first place in the succession of the throne.

 1570. The infantas with their pets

7. Last portraits in the Court

Before ending her stay in Spain, in 1573, Felipe II ordered Sofonisba to paint a family group formed by the king, Ana of Austria and the infantas Isabel and Catalina. 

, 

1573. The queen Ana of Austria. Prado Museum

(1568-1573). Felipe II. Prado Museum

Isabel Clara Eugenia Catalina Micaela,

8. MarriageIn 1573 Anguissola got married with Fabrizio Moncada, brother of the viceroy of Sicily and finished her stay in Spain. She moved to Sicily.

Her husband died and she got married again in 1579, with Orazio Lomellino. She installed in Genova and then in Palermo.

1580? Portrait of woman. 

1580. Portrait of Francesco I of Medici,“Gran Duque de Toscana”

9. GenovaDuring the years that Sofonisba lived in Genova she continued painting and received visits from younger painters who wanted to learn from her. She mantained contact with the Spanish Court.

She painted a portrait of Isabel Clara Eugenia (she was the governor of Flanders).

She also portrayed Catalina Micaela.After the death of Catalina Micaela, Sofonisba portrayed her oldest daughter Margarita of Saboya.

1599.  Isabel Clara Eugenia.Prado Museum. Embassy of Spain in Paris

1595. Margarita of Saboya with dwarf

1595. Portrait of Isabel of Valois

10. Palermo In 1624 Sofonisba received the visit of the

Flemish painter Van Dyck (disciple of Rubens) and one of the more important portraitists of the time. The woman, almost blind, gave advice to the painter.

Van Dyck portrayed her.Sofonisba Anguissola died in Palermo, in 1625, with 93 years.

 

1624. Antoon Van Dyck, Sofonisba Anguissola

11. Anonymous workThe court painters of the king Felipe II were: Antonio Moro, Alonso Sánchez Coello and Juan Pantoja de la Cruz.

Sofonisba wasn´t a court painter, she never signed her paintings and she never earned money from them, although she accepted gifts. Many of her paintings have been lost.Other pictures were adjudicated to other painters of the time. In the last years, after making studies and analysis, it was discovered that the paintings are of Sofonisba.

For example, these two portraits of the infanta Catalina Micaela it is thought they can be of Anguissola:

1585. Infanta Catalina Micaela.Prado Museum. Attributed to Sánchez Coello

1595. La Dama del armiño.Galery Pollock House of Glasgow.Attributed to El Greco

12. The painter inPrado Museum

There are paintings of Sofonisba exposed in museums of all the world.In Prado Museum are only showed paintings of three women: Sofonisba Anguissola, Artemisa Gentileschi and Clara Peeters.Sofonisba´s works that appear in Prado Museum with her name (in the room 56) are: - “Isabel of Valois holding a portrait of Felipe II”, before attributed to Juan Pantoja de la Cruz.- “Felipe II”, before attributed to Alonso Sánchez Coello.- “Portrait of the queen Ana of Austria”.

13. Bibliography www.museodelprado.es Cristian Mielost. “Sofonisba

Anguissola: historia de una artista”. En: Revista Atticus, 2015, p. 47-57.

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