‘While I was making her portrait she alerted me to various things: not to hold the light too high, so the shadows aren’t too deep in the lines of an old person’s face, for instance.’ (Anthony van Dyck)
She died in 1625. ● Anguissola was the first woman painter to achieve international fame, and she inspired some girls at the time, including Lavinia Fontana, to set their ‘hearts on learning to paint’.
Self-Portrait at the Easel, 1556
The Chess Game, 1555, includes portraits of
Sofonisba Anguissola’s sisters
Assessing Your Learning
1. What was the attitude to the role of women during the Renaissance?
2. How does this attitude explain why most of the artists in the Renaissance were men?
3. Where was Sofonisba Anguissola born?
4. How was her education different to the education of most girls and women at that time?
5. What famous artist gave her advice?
6. Most of her paintings are (i) scenes of nature or (ii) portraits or self-portraits or (iii) scenes of warriors.
7. Her most famous painting is (i) The Chess Game or (ii) The King’s Horse or (iii) Madrid in the Evening. 8. What was her main contribution to Renaissance art?
Sofonisba Anguissola painted Queen Elisabeth of Spain (1599) while she was official painter at the royal court in Madrid