1551: A young girl portrays her sister, who just joined a convent. The painting delicately conveys her spiritual devotion, gently veiled by a hint of melancholy.

Today, that portrait—now exhibited at the Southampton City Art Gallery—marks the beginning of the long and, in many ways, remarkable artistic career of one of Italy’s most renowned female painters: Sofonisba Anguissola from Cremona. She was the first woman artist to achieve genuine international fame, particularly in the field of portraiture—a genre apparently favoured by women painters of the past.

What allowed this woman to break the barriers of time and space and secure a place of honour in the pages of art history? How did she overcome the social and cultural prejudices of her era, rising above many male artists? Why did kings and queens choose her for their portraits over anyone else? What was so special about this young woman with large, clear eyes and a broad forehead, who preferred to depict herself in plain yet dignified and austere clothing, beautiful and simple at the same time?

First of all, Anguissola came from a remarkable family: she was the eldest of seven children—six daughters and one son—born to Amilcare Anguissola and Bianca Ponzoni, both belonging to noble families from Cremona. At the time, under Spanish rule, Cremona was the second most important and wealthy city in the Duchy of Milan.

Her father, in particular, was a lover of the arts and an amateur drawer himself. Defying the prejudices of his time, he not only allowed his daughters to study literature, painting, and music—in line with the ideals of the most enlightened humanists, such as Baldassarre Castiglione—but went even further, actively promoting their talent and building their reputation1. However, Sofonisba was not permitted to study mathematics, perspective, or the demanding fresco technique—skills that were instead well known to her teachers, Bernardino Campi (portrayed in Bernardino Campi ritrae Sofonisba2) and later Bernardino Gatti. Their influence is clearly reflected in her work, which echoes the refined style of the Emilian school.

Sofonisba’s sisters were also remarkable and shared her talent for art: Elena, Lucia, Minerva, Europa, and even the youngest, Anna Maria, were all skilled in drawing and painting, though none of them ever achieved the same level of fame as their eldest sister.

What truly distinguished Anguissola was her innovative approach to portraiture, in which she introduced original elements that at times blurred the lines with genre painting. A notable example is Partita a scacchi (The Chess Game)3, where three of the Anguissola sisters and a maid are portrayed with striking liveliness. For Sofonisba, a portrait was more than just a likeness; it was a glimpse into the subject’s personal history. Alongside faces rendered with exceptional precision—“so well done that they seem to live and breathe”4, as Giorgio Vasari himself wrote in 1566 after seeing the family portraits at the Anguissola home—she included finely detailed objects that, like puzzle pieces, helped to piece together the subject’s personality: a medallion, an open book, a glove, a piece of jewellery, a small sword. These elements reflect the conventions of 16th-century portraiture but are rendered with a naturalism that suggests her familiarity with the Brescian style of Moretto and the Bergamasque style of Moroni. Especially striking in her works are the intense gazes and vivid facial expressions—an area she practiced in depth, as shown by several surviving drawings in which, influenced by Leonardo’s theory of the 'motions of the soul,' she explored facial expressions of laughter and tears, emotions rarely depicted in portraiture at the time. One key example is her drawing of a child crying after being pinched by a crayfish5, a work that is thought to have inspired Caravaggio’s Ragazzo morso da un ramarro (Boy Bitten by a Lizard).

In a letter dated July 14, 1556, Annibal Caro wrote that “her works are fit for princes”6. Indeed, thanks to her talent and helped by her father’s promotional efforts, Anguissola quickly gained recognition amongst Italian and European courts, starting from the Spanish royal court where she arrived in 1559, recommended by the Duke of Alba and the Duke of Sessa, with whom she had stayed in Milan. In Madrid, she immediately won the favour of the royal family thanks to her portraits of Queen Elisabeth of Valois and later Emperor Philip II—both now in the Prado Museum (Madrid). The king was so impressed by the strong resemblance in both portraits that he awarded her an annual pension of 200 scudi.

Over time, however, Anguissola earned admiration not only for her artistic talent but also for her kindness and compassion—qualities that led her to remain at court even after Queen Isabella’s death, in order to care for the queen’s two daughters. Wishing to keep her in Spain as long as possible, Philip II tried to arrange a marriage for her with a Spanish nobleman. But Anguissola stood firm in her desire to marry an Italian instead. The match was found in Fabrizio Moncada, a Sicilian nobleman and brother of the Viceroy of Sicily. The two married in 1573, the same year she left Spain and settled in Palermo. Their union lasted only five years: Moncada died tragically and unexpectedly, drowning near Capri during a pirate attack. His body was never recovered. In his memory, Anguissola painted an altarpiece for the Church of the Annunziata in Paternò, as documented in a 1579 notarial record. The work depicted the Madonna dell’Itria, a subject of strong devotion for the Moncada family. The Virgin and Child stand at the top of a large wooden chest, which, according to legend, had carried the Byzantine icon of the Madonna Odigitria to the southern coast of Italy.

Anguissola wasn’t alone for long. Just a year after her husband’s death, while traveling by sea to Genoa with her brother, she met Orazio Lomellini, a nobleman and commander of the ship. The two soon married—once again, she overcame the disapproval of those around her. She settled in Genoa with her new husband, and they lived there for more than thirty years. During this time, she continued her work as a portraitist for the city’s noble families, while her work was influenced by that of local painter Luca Cambiaso. In her final years, she moved with her husband back to Palermo, where she lived until her death in her nineties. Her reputation remained strong: the young Anton Van Dyck visited her there, made a sketch of her, and later wrote: “I have learned more from a blind old woman than from studying the works of the greatest masters”8. Sofonisba Anguissola was buried in the Church of San Giorgio (Palermo).

Despite her long and successful career, Anguissola was never paid in cash—unlike her male contemporaries. Instead, she received compensation in the form of gifts or annuities. Documents show that payments for her work were received first by her father, Amilcare, and later by her brother, Asdrubale.

In recent decades, interest in her work has grown significantly, fuelled both by exhibitions (and the essays published in their catalogs) and by renewed archival research. Particularly noteworthy are the 2019 exhibition in Madrid, which focused on a comparison with Lavinia Fontana, and the 2021 one at Palazzo Reale in Milan, which positioned her within a broader group of the “ladies of art” who marked the beginnings of female recognition in the art world.

Beyond their educational role, exhibitions also play a key part in promoting restoration projects, contributing to the preservation of artworks. A case in point is the restoration of the above mentioned Madonna dell’Itria, which recovered its brightness and clarity. The intervention also revealed several areas of lesser quality, likely due to the—documented— retouching by her first husband—an amateur painter.

The Madonna dell’Itria is the only large altarpiece Anguissola is known to have painted. It was completed after the tragic death of her husband—the shipwreck is depicted in the background seascape—and just before Anguissola left Sicily. For this reason, I believe the painting may have served not only as a tribute to Moncada, for whom a perpetual memorial mass was to be celebrated, but perhaps also as a personal invocation to the Virgin for a safe voyage as Anguissola prepared to take to the sea.

The small Ritratto di un fanciullo (Portrait of a Boy), sold at the Van Ham auction in Cologne on June 2, 2021, is thought to date from Anguissola’s early Sicilian period. Influenced by Anthonis Mor’s portraiture, it likely represents a rare surviving example of her work now scattered between private Sicilian collections. While portraiture remained her favoured genre, some subtle innovations—though the attributions are debated—can also be seen in her devotional paintings. For instance, a youthful small-scale painting in a private collection showing the Madonna and Child, the young St. John the Baptist, St. Elizabeth, and two angels holding curtains has been attributed to her (M. Tanzi, 2020).

A key moment for archival research on Anguissola was the international symposium held by the University of Catania in 2019. The event did not focus exclusively on her Sicilian period, which later became the subject of a dedicated exhibition in Cremona in 2022. Despite this growing interest, many phases of her life remain unexplored—such as the year she spent in Pisa while travelling back to Genoa from Sicily, and her time in Genoa with her second husband. Her connections with the Savoy court also require further study: Catalina Micaela, wife of Charles Emmanuel I, was Elisabeth of Valois’ daughter, and Sofonisba had been her mother’s lady-in-waiting during her time as court painter in Madrid. Their third son, Emanuel Filibert, served as Viceroy of Sicily from 1622 until his death in 1624, during which time Anguissola had returned to live on the island. However, from 1615 onward, her second Sicilian period was increasingly affected by the gradual loss of her eyesight, which affected her artistic production.

Despite working within a rigidly male-dominated world, Anguissola succeeded in carving out significant personal and professional independence, which made her famous in her own time. Today, while many romanticized biographies persist, modern scholarship prefers a more balanced and objective evaluation.

Translated by Rebecca Cigognini.
1 The Laurentian Library in Florence still preserves several of his letters addressed to the great Michelangelo, written between 1557 and 1558.
2 The English translation of this painting is “Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola”. It’s actually preserved in the National Gallery of Siena.
3 Actually preserved in Muzeum Narodowe, Pozn.
4 Translation by Rebecca Cigognini.
5 Actually preserved in Capodimonte, Naples.
6 Translation by Rebecca Cigognini.
7 Actually preserved in the British Museum, London.
8 Translation by Rebecca Cigognini.