As the eldest of six daughters from a noble family of the north Italian
city of Cremona, Sofonisba’s achievements must be seen against the
backdrop of Renaissance humanist thought regarding the education of noblewomen.
In the early 16th century, the widely circulated publication, The
Courtier, by Baldesare Castiglione, became the foremost proponent
advocating the same education for aristocratic women as that offered to
aristocratic men. For noblewomen like Sofonisba this meant instruction not only
in Latin, classical literature, history, philosophy, math, and sciences, but
also training in the court arts--music, writing, drawing, and painting.
Sofonisba was one of the first women to gain a international reputation
as a painter. She studied under Campi until he moved away and this established
a precedent of encouraging male painters to take on female students.
Michelangelo even sent her some drawings, which she copied and sent back to him
for criticism. Sofonisba's apprenticeship with local painters set a precedent
for women to be accepted as students of art.
When she was already well known, Anguissola went to Milan sometime in
1558, where she painted the Duke of Alba who in turn recommended her to the
Spanish king, Philip II. In 1559 she was appointed court portrait painter and
lady-in-waiting to Spain's new queen, Elizabeth of Valois, the third wife of
King Philip II. She stayed in Spain for 18 years.
A total of about 50 works have been securely attributed to Sofonisba.
Her works can be seen at galleries in Bergamo, Budapest, Madrid (Museo del
Prado), Naples, Siena, and Florence (Uffizi Gallery). Sofonisba is important to
feminist art historians. Although there has never been a period in Western
history in which women were completely absent in the visual arts, Anguissola's
great success opened the way for larger numbers of women to pursue serious
careers as artists.
