Emily Pfister
November 26, 2013
Professor McHam
Seminar Thesis Paper
Sofonisba Anguissola: A Woman Breaking Down Barriers in the Italian Renaissance
Sofonisba Anguissola was a woman extremely ahead of her time. Her career was a
succession of high achievements and firsts, for being both a woman and an artist in the Italian
Renaissance. As a woman artist living in a male-dominated culture and society, Anguissola had
many obstacles to over come and had to navigate the fine line between promoting her skills to
attract potential patrons, while still appearing chaste and respectable as an aristocratic woman.
To be in this situation was a rare opportunity for a woman, and there had been no predecessors to
guide Anguissola’s decisions. She was embarking on a path no woman had gone before and was
in uncharted waters. To overcome such challenges I argue Anguissola developed a program of
self-portraits using the term virgo either through explicit written use, or hidden symbolism as a
way to positively identify herself as an independent and capable female artist. Sofonisba
Anguissola was consciously choosing to label her self-portraits with virgo to break into the maledominated realm of painting, gain respect and recognition as a woman painter, and to open
painting to women as a socially acceptable profession.
In this paper I will first be discussing the social climate of Renaissance Italy and the
attitudes and views toward woman in society as well as ways in which women were traditionally
visually represented during Anguissola’s lifetime. Then I will be examining a number of
Anguissola’s early self portraits to prove her use of the term virgo is deliberate and powerful
within the context of her works. Next I will discuss Anguissola in the context of other female
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artists, by looking at works including her sisters, and works done by Lavinia Fontana, a slightly
later female artist in the sixteenth century. Finally, I will be discussing her contributions to the
subject of genre painting, and her influence on later artists, both male and female.
Anguissola was born in c.1532, in Cremona, Italy to Amilcare and Bianca Anguissola,
members of an ancient aristocratic family in the city.1 As a daughter of noble birth, whose father
valued education, Sofonisba and her five sisters, Elena, Lucia, Minerva, Europa and Anna Maria
received the same Renaissance humanist education that was usually reserved for noble born
males.2 Showing an interest and talent for the arts early on, Sofonisba’s father was inspired to
have his daughters trained in painting, an experience usually denied to females, unless their
father was also an artist, as in Lavinia Fontana’s case. Since Amilcare was a businessman, and
not an artist, he had his two eldest daughters; Sofonisba and Elena take drawing and painting
lessons from the Cremonese artist Bernardino Campi, which were carefully chaperoned by
Campi’s wife, to safeguard the reputation of the Anguissola girls.3
Sofonisba Anguissola was not the first woman of her time to branch out of the
constricting social norms for women in the Italian Renaissance. Isotta Nogarola was a well
known fifteenth-century humanist from Verona, Italy who was an extremely educated for a
woman of her time. She was also a pioneer, in the sense that she was trying to break into the
sphere of education and book-learning that was highly regarded as a man’s domain. When she
writes a letter to the famous male educator Guarino and he does not answer her, her modesty is
compromised and questioned. 4 Not everyone embraced a woman straying so far from “women’s
1
Ilya Sandra Perlingiere, Sofonisba Anguissola: The First Great Woman Artist of the Renaissance (New York:
Rizzoli Publications, 1992), 27.
2
Ibid, 30.
3
Vida J. Hull, “The Single Serpent: Family Pride and Female Education in a portrait by Lucia Anguissola,”
Southeastern College Art Conference Review (2001): 18.
4
Ibid, 18.
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work” and her critics considered her “improperly talkative”, and attacked her in an anonymous
pamphlet in 1438, accusing her of incest.5 Nogarola’s experience presents an example of how
contemporary educated women were viewed when they refused to conform to social norms, and
represents the vulnerability of a learned women seeking recognition.6 Men had a very hard time
accepting learned women because at this time it was widely believed only men had the biological
and physical capacities to deeply engage in theoretical learning, and more importantly, men were
created superior to women.7 A learned woman such as Nogarola would either have been viewed
as “a male soul that had been born in one of a female sex” or that she “belonged to a third
amorphous sex”.8 Anguissola would later be confronted by a very similar problem since it was
also believed that only men carried the spark of invention and creativity, as argued by Aristotle
in earlier times, and still believed in Sofonisba’s contemporary society.9
In traditional female portraiture women were depicted one of two ways. Either the
woman was used as a living symbol of her husband’s families’ wealth and power, or the woman
was a visual representation for the artist’s vision of ideal beauty. In Antonio Pollaiuolo’s Portrait
of a Young Woman from 1475, a beautiful young woman with very light blonde hair poses
profiled to her right, with soft gazing eyes that stare out in front of her, avoiding the viewer’s
gaze. Her identity can no longer be confirmed, but this type of portrait is usually labeled as a
“marriage portrait”, commissioned to celebrate a marriage, and the joining of two upper-class
families through civil union. Wound through her pulled up hair, and strung around her neck are
intricate strands of pearls with large jewels attached. Pearls were seen as a symbol of a woman’s
5
Ibid, 18.
Ibid, 18.
7
Joanna Woods Marsden, Renaissance Self-Portraiture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 187.
8
Perlingiere, Sofonisba Anguissola, 77.
9
Frederika H. Jacobs, “Women’s Capacity to Create: The Unusual Case of Sofonisba Anguissola,” Renaissance
Quarterly (1994): 80.
6
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virtue and purity, two very important traits needed by a prospective or just married bride. She sits
against a background of soft blue, and wears a deep burgundy garment with a large intricate
pattern embossed on the shoulder and sleeve. This pattern is most likely an insignia representing
her husband’s family, worn by women members as a status symbol for their wealth and power.
During the Renaissance it was commonplace for woman to act as vehicles and symbols of their
husband’s wealth. Represented within the context of the marriage portrait, women were stripped
of their individuality to act as status symbols, modeling the insignia of the family woven into the
expensive fabrics of their dresses and wearing the precious jewelry owned by her husband’s
family.
When not acting as living symbols, women were represented as the epitome of female
beauty in portraits that did not represent an actual woman, but represented more of an ideal of a
beautiful woman. This can be seen in Botticelli’s Image of a Beautiful Woman from around c.
1480-85, in which again there is a very young blonde woman turned to her right in profile. This
woman is much more simply dressed in a red garment with a black panel across the front. As
opposed to the woman in Pollaiuolo’s portrait this woman’s sexuality is defined, in how massive
her heavy hair is, and the way it is falling and tumbling out of the braids and wraps which try to
confine it. Also different is how low cut her dress is, exposing her milky white chest and neck to
the viewer. There are also similarities to Pollaiuolo’s painting in a similar blue sky in the
background, this time seen through an open window, and the pearl motif, which can be seen
braided through her hair and set atop her head. Both women represent the standard of beauty in
the Renaissance, derived from Petrarch’s canzoniere written in the fourteenth century in which
Petrarch beautifully articulates his love for a woman named Laura, who had a long graceful neck,
light blonde hair, symmetry in her features, ivory skin, a high brow line, soft pink cheeks and
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rosebud lips. Portraits of women who adhere to Petrarch’s standard for ideal beauty, underline
the contemporary tastes and style, not their own individuality or talents, as Anguissola’s selfportraits do.
In 1558, Sofonisba created her Family Group, a painting of her father, Amilcare, younger
sister, Minerva, and younger brother, Asdrubale, which shows the female artist in a slightly
broader context in which both males and females are present, which is different from her selfportraits. Art historian Mary Garrard argues this group portrait portrays an accurate view of the
gender inequalities between male and female family members, a perspective rarely
acknowledged in Renaissance family portraiture, which instead usually showing male and female
family members as inaccurately gender-equal.10 The painting reflects the patriarchal system
Sofonisba lived in; Amilcare shows his favor for Asdrubale, the younger long-awaited male heir,
by clutching him to his side with his left arm, while ignoring Minerva, his older, female child, to
his right, even as she tries to get his attention. Garrard also believes the idealized view of
Cremona in the background represents the lands Asdrubale will inherit when he comes of age,
and Amilcare’s close proximity to the boy as well as his gestures imply his hopes for Asdrubale
to carry on the family business and support the family.11Ironically, Sofonisba ended up being the
savior to her father’s failing business, and supported her entire family while working as the court
painter to the Spanish Queen for the duration of her father’s life, then supporting her brother
after her father’s death as well.
During the Renaissance subtle social climate shifts occurred that made it more socially
acceptable for Sofonisba Anguissola to pursue a career as a female artist. But while women’s
rights were progressing, many people continued to disagree that women contained the capacity to
Mary D. Garrard, “Here’s to Looking at me: Sofonisba Anguissola and the Problem of the Woman Artist,”
Renaissance Quarterly (1994): 609.
11
Ibid, 609.
10
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create, and women continued to be viewed as second-class citizens. Humanist educators began to
acknowledge women more and more during this period and came to realize that they also had the
capacity for intellectual and artistic studies. In 1480, the Defense of the Women was written
which praised the accomplishments of women, including women poets, humanist learners and
even painters. Vasari, the contemporary Italian historian and author of his Lives of the Artist
acknowledged women painters in his second edition of Lives, which included commentary on
Sofonisba Anguissola and her works. In 1566, Vasari visited the Anguissola household, during
the time Sofonisba was working as a court painter in Spain, to view for himself the work of the
female artist. Upon seeing her Chess Game of 1555, he marveled at the life-like qualities of her
portraiture and remarked that they were “wanting nothing save speech”, which he wrote in his
description of Sofonisba in Lives.12 But while Vasari praises Anguissola he also suggest that
there might be a connection between Sofonisba’s biological capacity to “create men” and her
artistic ability to “represent men”.13 Gender inequalities could be traced back to biology and
sexual reproduction, and thought to be supported by scientific evidence. It was believed by
Aristotle as well as Vasari that men were the only gender to “create” because they provided the
semen that was molded inside woman’s ovum, which without, conception could not take place.14
Sofonisba Anguissola was in a position no woman before her had ever been. In the height
of her career she was receiving high commissions as a court painter and made enough money to
support her family, while still maintaining her dignity and place in society as a woman painter of
noble birth. Her early self-portraits, the way in which she was able to navigate through opposing
spheres, as well as the help of her father, were the key to her landing the prestigious position as a
court painter to the Spanish King, Phillip II and the personal painting teacher to the Queen,
Jacobs, “Women’s Capacity to Create”, 78.
Ibid, 78.
14
Ibid, 78.
12
13
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Isabel de Velois. Anguissola always had to be cautious and aware of her place as a woman. Art
historian Joanna Woods-Marsden argues Sofonisba would have encountered a tension of spheres,
and her role as a woman, as well as a painter would change according to what sphere or context
she was in. At this time, the public sphere was considered the domain of male activity, while
unmarried females were expected to stay within the private realm of their households, to
preserve their dignity and remain chaste.15 With limitations on where Anguissola could go as an
unmarried woman, she was forced to find subject matters within her daily life of living at home
with her family. Her self-portraits and portraits of family members can be seen as feminine
subject matter, as opposed to male artists who did more of historical and religious scenes. As a
woman, Anguissola was also not in professional competition with male artists because she did
not work on commission, since nearly all of her works were intended as gifts.16 Sofonisba also
faced the problem of her talent as a female artist being undermined by critics, either by being
categorized as “only a woman”, accomplished by over sexualizing her in order to deny Sofonisba
of her accomplishments by saying she was physically incapable, or being labeled “not-woman”,
accomplished by describing Sofonisba as sexually perfect and idealizing her to the point where it
distracted attention from her threatening achievements.17
In an early self portrait, her Self Portrait of 1554, a very young Anguissola sits in three
quarters view, her body turned slightly to her right; her head looking back frontally to face the
viewer. Her body position is different from the marriage portraits I discussed earlier, which
shows her desire to be viewed as an individual and not be associated with that tradition in
portraiture. Anguissola paints herself against a dark green background, wearing a very plain
15
Woods-Marsden, Renaissance Self-Portraiture, 199.
Sylvia Ferino-Pagden, Sofonisba Anguissola: A Renaissance Woman (Washington D.C.: National Museum of
women in the Arts, 1995), 12.
17
Garrard, “Here’s to Looking at Me”, 588.
16
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garment of dark brown and black, with a high neck and long sleeves. She is much unadorned,
with no jewelry around her neck or wrists, or her hair severely pulled back hair, and tied in a neat
bun at the nape of her neck. She wears no markers of her wealth and noble standing, with only a
small hint of white lace peeking out of her collar and wrists. Her face is a soft creamy ivory, with
pink flushed cheeks and red lips, to show her youth. While she is beautiful, she does not fit with
the Petrarchan standards, and represents an image of an actual, recognizable person.
Anguissola’s large, piercing green eyes seem to hold the viewer’s gaze as she holds open a very
small book with the thumb of her left hand. Written in neat script on the page of the book is
Sofonisba Anguissola virgo se ipsam fecit 1554 translated as Sofonisba Anguissola, the
unmarried maiden painted this herself, 1554. This portrait proves that even from the beginning
of her career, Sofonisba worked as the creator of her paintings, and came up with the concept to
paint on her own, even though it was believed women didn’t have the capacity to create. This is
believed to be the earliest signed and dated autonomous self-portrait in Italian art, and also the
first book seen in a self-portrait, regardless of the artist’s gender.18 Anguissola’s use of the term
virgo has been interpreted as a positive term used to define herself, because of the connotations it
held for independence and self-determination.19
Another self-portrait in which Sofonisba chooses to describe herself as a virgo is her SelfPortrait miniature on copper, created in c.1555. In this small-scale roundel painting Sofonisba
portrays herself very similarly to her self portrait from 1554; against a dark green background, in
a somber concealing black dress, with her hair pulled austerely back to a bun, unadorned by
jewelry of any kind. New however, is the large circular object Anguissola holds in her hands,
covering her body almost like a shield. The large disk is a dark green with large-scale gold script
18
19
Woods-Marsden, Renaissance Self- Portraiture, 201-202.
Garrard, “Here’s to Looking at Me,” 580.
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in the middle, of the upper-case letters E, R, A, C, K, Y, and M. These intertwining letters
creates an emblem and riddle whose meaning has not been deciphered by art historians, but
would have been understood and appreciated by the recipient of the self-portrait when given to
its recipient.20 Riddles were popular in intellectual circles of the time, and by including one,
Sofonisba is displaying her learning in a fun and appropriate way.21
Interestingly, along the perimeter of the disk, outlined in a rim of gold is the inscription
Sophonisba Anguissola Vir[go] ipsius manu ex [s]peculo depictam Cremonae which translates
to painted from a mirror with her own hand by the Cremonese virgin Sofonisba Anguissola.22 It
is noteworthy to acknowledge Sofonisba’s use of a mirror in creating this image, because like
transparent glass the mirror was a religious metaphor for the Virgin’s unspotted purity, in which
Sofonisba is appropriating to show her own chastity.23 The mirror also functioned as a way to
reinforce the fact that she was a virgo, or virgin, since she could create images of herself and
practice her artistic skills in a way that did not risk damage to her purity, or break social
conventions of the time, because the use of the mirror allowed her to work alone in the domestic
realm of her family home.24 Sofonisba would have also been familiar with Boccaccio’s On
Famous Women, whose text concerning ancient women painters was greatly influenced by the
ancient historian, Pliny the Elder’s descriptions of women painters of antiquity, who were known
to specialize in self-portraiture rendered from mirrors.25 With no predecessors to direct her in
how to portray herself or what kind of art she should be producing as a woman artist, Sofonisba
20
Perlingiere, Sofonisba Anguissola, 63.
Ibid, 63.
22
Woods-Marsden, Renaissance Self-Portraiture, 203.
23
Ibid, 203.
24
Ibid, 204.
25
Sarah Blake McHam, Pliny and the Artistic Culture of the Italian Renaissance (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 2013), 80.
21
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may have found guidance and some solace in knowing she was continuing a tradition of selfportraiture started by ancient women painters.
In Sofonisba’s undated Self-Portrait Painting the Virgin and Child she presents herself
with the same facial features and background, dressed almost identically to her securely dated
self-portraits from the early 1550’s, leading me to argue this was created around the same time,
while Sofonisba was living at home in Cremona, before she turned twenty years of age.
Sofonisba had done multiple versions of this painting, probably intended as gifts to different
people, but in every version she portrays herself at her easel actively painting the Virgin and
Child, with paintbrush and palette in hand. Choosing to show herself painting the two most
famous symbols of Christianity, strongly communicates not only her own devoutness, but also
makes a powerful statement that as a female artist she feels confident and capable in creating a
religious scene, a subject usually only executed by male artists.26 In the version that is currently
in the Zeri collection at Mentana there is an additional inscription on the painting which reads I,
the maiden Sophonisba, equaled the Muses and Apelles in performing my songs and handling my
colours, which shows Sofonisba explicitly promoting her skill to be as great as that of Apelles,
the most talented male painter of Antiquity.27 Sofonisba is making a bold claim to say her she is
equally talented as a man, and not just any man, but the most famously talented ancient male
painter, no less.
Sofonisba created another action portrait in 1563 titled Self Portrait at the Virginal in
which she paints herself in her usual austere black outfit seated at the virginal, also known as a
spinet, which is a piano-like instrument. With this self-portrait Sofonisba was breaking new
Catherine King, “Looking a Sight: Sixteenth-Century Portraits of Woman Artists,” Zeitschrift fur Kunstgeschichte
(1995): 388.
27
Ibid, 388.
26
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ground, as no male artist before her had shown themselves as a musician in a self-portrait.28 By
portraying herself in the act of playing music, Sofonisba might have been expressing the link
between her accomplishments as a musician and those as a painter29, since both mediums are
considered arts, and to be musically talented was appropriate for a woman and appreciated in
aristocratic circles as a sign of a well-bred lady. The maid’s presence in the background, acts a
chaperone to the young Sofonisba, again showing her social status as a virtuous noblewoman. By
choosing the virginal in particular, Sofonisba was consciously making connections back to virgo,
by using a play on the word virginal back to its root, virgin; virgo in Latin. The term virgo is
very close to another term, virago, and to someone living in Renaissance Italy, virgo would
remind them of virago, especially within the context of a self-portrait done by a woman artist.30
To be a virago was to be a ferocious female force of nature, such as the Amazon female warriors
of ancient myth.31 Sofonisba may have had this more ambitious implication in mind when
choosing to label her works with virgo, strengthening the argument that this was how she saw
herself, as a powerful female force. The inclusion of the virginal also indicated a coded symbol
within the work that functioned on many levels as an aid to how she defined herself as a strong
and capable woman artist.
Sofonisba Anguissola was the first woman to have a long and illustrious painting career,
due not only to her talent and skills as an artist, but also to the way in which she promoted
herself through gift-giving, and her father’s role in advancing her fame and ability in art and
intellectual circles. Sofonisba developed a program of gift-giving, in which she used her self
portraits as a tool to gain recognition as a woman painter. She would send important artists,
28
Ibid, 388.
Ibid, 388.
30
Woods-Marsden, Renaissance Self-Portraiture, 581.
31
Ibid, 581.
29
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friends, and potential patrons paintings she had done of herself, in order to promote her talent for
capturing a likeness and to encourage them to commission her to create a portrait of their
likeness.
Amilcare Anguissola also acted as an intermediary figure between Sofonisba and
important people and patrons by writing letters for her. This role is apparent in the literary
evidence that survives, which documents Sofonisba’s father exchanging letters with the court of
King Phillip II, arranging Sofonisba’s move to Spain to serve as court painter to Queen Isabel. 32
Also documented is Amilcare’s role of aiding a professional relationship between the young
Sofonisba and Michelangelo, one of the most famous Italian painters of the time. Amilcare sent
drawings his daughter had created to Michelangelo in the hopes that it would draw recognition
and prestige to Sofonisba.33 Important to note, however, is that later in Sofonisba’s life,
circumstances shifted to allow Sofonisba the ability to correspond directly with male patrons,
including Pope Pius IV, whom she responded to herself when he wrote in 1561 inquiring about
acquiring a portrait of the Spanish queen done by Sofonisba.34
To understand Sofonisba in more of a context of female artists, it is useful to compare her
to another female artist of the sixteenth century, Lavinia Fontana. Anguissola can be seen as the
predecessor to Fontana, who further develops the standing of the woman artist, and appropriates
Sofonisba’s program of self-definition to fit her needs. Although they are both women painters,
there are some notable differences between Sofonisba and Lavinia, the most notable being that
Lavinia was the daughter of an already established painter, Prospero Fontana, who ran a
workshop in Bologna, the same one Lavinia apprenticed in, and eventually took over after her
father’s death. Lavinia’s career took a different path than Sofonisba’s and she never became a
32
Perlingiere, Sofonisba Anguissola, 112.
Perlingiere, Sofonisba Anguissola, 67.
34
Ibid, 122.
33
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court painter, but instead established her own successful workshop in Rome.35 Lavinia was also
not born into an aristocratic family, as Sofonisba was, but as different as these women were, they
were both on the very forefront as female artists.
In Lavinia Fontana’s Self Portrait Making Music from 1577, the artist is subtly portraying
herself using two common contemporary ideals about woman during the Renaissance; that the
woman artist is a marvel of nature for both her artistic abilities, as well as for her physical
beauty.36 Certainly the second claim can be seen in this work, as Fontana chose to dress herself
in a richly ornate red gown with a high lace collar, intricate shoulder decorations, wearing
jewelry including multiple necklaces and hair pieces. Her elaborate attire is a striking point of
contrast from the austere modest black garments Sofonisba chose to portray herself wearing in
her self-portraits. Art historian Katherine McIver argues Fontana goes beyond Sofonisba’s action
portraits to show an empty easel in the background, almost like a challenge to herself.37 The
inscription in the left top corner of the painting reads Lavinian virgo Prosperi Fontanae/Filia ex
speculo imaginem/oris sui expresi anno 1577 which translates to Lavinia maiden daughter of
Prospero Fontana has represented the likeness of her face from the mirror in the year 1577.
Since Lavinia also inscribes her work with virgo and plays the virginal, I argue she is
appropriating Sofonisba’s program of self-portraiture and use of virgo for her agenda to promote
herself as a strong female artist. Sofonisba opened the door for Fontana to become a painter and
Fontana contributes her own inventions and takes the status of the woman artist further.
In Lavinia Fontana’s later Self-Portrait in the Studiolo from 1579, Lavinia presents
herself as a scholar seated at her desk surrounded by antique sculptures, as a sign of her
Katherine A. McIver, “Lavinia Fotana’s “Self-Portrait Making Music”,” Woman’s Art Inc (1998): 3.
Ibid, 4.
37
Ibid, 4.
35
36
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education and learning, an invention never attempted by Anguissola.38 Also invented by Fontana
is her description of her studiolo, taking special care to render particular details of the creative
space in which she works, such as the small ink well that sits on her desk, or the rectangular
cubbies that line the back wall.39 Fontana chooses to portray herself as a finely dressed lady, in a
lavish grey-violet embroidered gown with wide white sleeves, lace, and jewels, even more ornate
than her red gown in her Self-Portrait Making Music. On the desk in front of Lavinia sits a single
blank sheet of paper, emphasizing the artist’s decision to portray herself in the initial stage of
creation, when she would be inventing a concept to execute, a process which relies solely on her
intellect and imagination.40 I would argue she is making a very strong commentary on the status
of the female artist, and looks out at the viewer as if to say, ‘I can be a woman, an artist, as well
as intellectual and learned.” While the method and symbolism may be different from Sofonisba’s
program of virgo, in this self-portrait, the message of women’s artistic capabilities remains the
same. Lavinia might have felt fewer constraints in the way in which she represented herself,
because of her background training in her father’s professional workshop, and due to the fact that
she was accepted by most as a professional painter in Bolognese artistic circles.41
Sofonisba Anguissola not only made incredible gains for women in the male-dominated
realm of painting, but also was also influential in developing the popularity of genre scenes,
which emerged in Italian art around the end of the sixteenth century. In Sofonisba’s The Chess
Game from 1555, the same painting Vasari praised for its life-like figures, three of Sofonisba’s
younger sisters, Lucia, Europa, and Minerva, accompanied by their nurse, sit around a small
table playing chess, smiling and laughing. This painting functions as both a group portrait, to
38
Woods-Marsden, Renaissance Self Portraiture, 221.
Ibid, 221.
40
Ibid, 220.
41
Ibid, 221.
39
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show the features of the sitters, dressed in colorful, richly embroidered gowns, as well as a genre
scene as Sofonisba conveys the narrative that the girls are actively playing chess, and are
laughing and enjoying themselves. The scene offers a glimpse at sibling interaction between
three sisters, and is a rare example of expressive sixteenth-century portraiture, since individual
and group portraiture was usually extremely formal without showing emotion, acting more as a
document, than as a narrative.42
It is significant Sofonisba chose to portray her sisters playing the game of chess, because
of the contemporary status and controversy of the game. The game of chess underwent a rule
change in c.1510 that made the queen piece the most powerful piece on the board, even more so
than the king.43 Combined with the fact that chess was considered a very intellectual game,
Sofonisba might have been making a subtle commentary on women’s status in education, to
create a scene showcasing women’s intelligence and power. Art historian Marry Garrard also
argues that Sofonisba had created a composition of glances and gestures between the sisters to
show the influence and connection they shared to Sofonisba, who acted as their role model and
art teacher.44 The youngest sister, Lucia, looks to Minerva, who looks across the board to
Minerva, who calmly stares out at the artist, Sofonisba. Through these glances Sofonisba creates
both a self-contained narrative with the interaction of the sisters, and also a scene that interacts
with the viewer through Minerva’s gaze. With the inclusion of the maid, who acts as a chaperone
to the young girls to safeguard their virtue45, and the mountainous landscape, depicted in
atmospheric perspective in the background, it can be argued this scene was invented by
42
Perlingiere, Sofonisba Anguissola, 88.
Garrard, “Here’s to Looking at Me”, 597.
44
Ibid, 603.
45
Hull, “The Single Serpent”, 18.
43
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Sofonisba, who again proves wrong the theory that women do not contain the capacity to
create.46
Sofonisba’s drawing of the Old Woman Studying the Alphabet, with a Laughing Girl
from c.1545, show just how talented Sofonisba was at capturing and portraying a scene of
intimacy. Although this is only a rough sketch, the determination on the older woman’s face as
she reads from a book is clearly visible, as is the young girl’s confident smile as she points to her
pupil with pride. This drawing is truly unique because of the way Sofonisba switched the age
roles of the two women, to have a younger teacher instructing an older student. It is argued this
was one of the drawings Amilcare sent to Michelangelo to try and advance his daughter’s career,
and although it has not been documented that Michelangelo saw this exact drawing, he
reportedly saw a drawing done by Sofonisba of a laughing girl. Michelangelo responded to
Sofonisba (through Amilcare), that he would have preferred to see a weeping boy because that
emotions was more difficult to draw, and Sofonisba sent him Boy Pinched by Crawfish, in
return.47 This drawing has been severely damaged over time but still shows a male young toddler
crying as a small crawfish dangles from his left hand, with a slightly older female youth with her
hand around his shoulders, trying to comfort him. The models for the drawing were most likely
Sofonisba’s siblings, although there are no records to say for sure. When Sofonisba journeyed to
Rome in 1554 to study art, it is believed she studied with Michelangelo, with whom she
maintained a close professional relationship with, and who showed her kindness and
encouragement.48
Sofonisba and her career had a lasting impact on the next generation of master painters,
both male and female. It was reported that after seeing a portrait by Sofonisba and hearing how
46
Woods-Marsden, Renaissance Self-Portraiture, 210.
Ibid, 95.
48
Perlingiere, Renaissance Self-Portraiture, 67.
47
Pfister 16
successful she was, Lavinia Fontana and Irene di Spilimbergo were inspired to become female
painters as well.49 When Sofonisba moved to Sicily much later in her life, she befriended the
young Flemish painter Anthony Van Dyke, and became his “unofficial” tutor, advising him in
painting techniques.50 Van Dyke supposedly said that he “learned more from a sightless old
woman than from all the master painters in Italy.”51 Sofonisba’s reach and influence on the
profession of painting, women artists, and future generations of artists, is an invaluable piece of
history in Italian art and shows the genius of a woman who developed a unique program of selfportraiture appropriating the term virgo to command respect and recognition as a woman artist
living in a man’s world, pioneering a place in this world.
Jacobs, “Women’s Capacity to Create”, 76.
Fortune, Invisible Women, 146.
51
Ibid, 146.
49
50
Pfister 17
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Broude, Norma and Mary D. Garrard. Reclaiming Female Agency. California: University of
California Press, 2005. Print.
Ferino- Pagden, Sylvia. Sofonisba Anguissola: A Renaissance Woman. Washington D.D.:
National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1995. Print.
Fortune, Jane. Invisible Women. Florence: The Florentine Press, 2010. Print
Garrard, Mary D. “Here’s to Looking at me: Sofonisba Anguissola and the Problem of the
Woman Artist.” Renaissance Quarterly 47.3 (1994): 556-622. Print.
Hull, Vida J. “The Single Serpent: Family Pride and Female Education in a portrait by Lucia
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Anguissola.” Renaissance Quarterly 47.1 (1994): 74-101. Print.
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McHam, Sarah Blake. Pliny and the Artistic Culture of the Italian Renaissance. New Haven:
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(1998): 3-8. Print.
Perlingiere, Ilya Sandra. Sofonisba Anguissola: The first Great Woman Artist of the Renaissance.
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Woods- Marsden, Joanna. Renaissance Self-Portraiture. New Haven: Yale University Press.
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Pfister 18