COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0000100
image_record_id
aahi0000100
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Self-Portrait at the Spinet
Image Title:
full view
Work Dates (display):
mid to late 16th century
Work Dates type:
creation
Work Creator (display):
Sofonisba Anguissola (Italian, ca. 1532-1625)
Work Creator gender:
female
work_creator_or_agent_gender
female
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
The best known of the sisters, she was trained, with Elena, by Campi and Gatti. Most of Vasari's account of his visit to the Anguissola family is devoted to Sofonisba, about whom he wrote: 'Anguissola has shown greater application and better grace than any other woman of our age in her endeavours at drawing; she has thus succeeded not only in drawing, colouring and painting from nature, and copying excellently from others, but by herself has created rare and very beautiful paintings'. Sofonisba's privileged background was unusual among woman artists of the 16th century, most of whom, like Lavinia Fontana (see Fontana (ii), (2)), fede Galizia and Barbara Longhi (see Longhi (i), (3)), were daughters of painters. Her social class did not, however, enable her to transcend the constraints of her sex. Without the possibility of studying anatomy, or drawing from life, she could not undertake the complex multi-figure compositions required for large-scale religious or history paintings. She turned instead to the models accessible to her, exploring a new type of portraiture with sitters in informal domestic settings. The influence of Campi, whose reputation was based on portraiture, is evident in her early works, such as the Self-portrait (Florence, Uffizi). Her work was allied to the worldly tradition of Cremona, much influenced by the art of Parma and Mantua, in which even religious works were imbued with extreme delicacy and charm. From Gatti she seems to have absorbed elements reminiscent of Correggio, beginning a trend that became marked in Cremonese painting of the late 16th century. This new direction is reflected in Lucia, Minerva and Europa Anguissola Playing Chess (1555; Pozna_, N. Mus.) in which portraiture merges into a quasi-genre scene, a characteristic derived from Brescian models. Many of Sofonisba's works were self-portraits , and at least 12 survive, including examples in Boston, MA (1552; Mus. F.A.), Vienna (1554; Ksthist. Mus.), Naples (1559; Capodimonte) and Milan (c. 1555; Mus. Poldi Pezzoli). She depicted herself with various attributes, some relating to her artistic profession, some to the literary and musical accomplishments typical of contemporary noblewomen. In the latest dated Self-portrait (1561; Althorp House, Northants), she is shown seated at a spinet, watched by a chaperone, also an allusion to her status. Although the rendering of perspective in the keyboard is not convincing, the background figure of the chaperone gives some illusion of space. Her approach to portrait painting was personal, not coldly realistic, and she showed an interest in the psychology of her sitters, although it was never fully realized. This interest is evident in a series of drawings and paintings that explore the physical expression of emotions, such as Child Bitten by a Crayfish (c. 1554; Naples, Capodimonte), which influenced Caravaggio, or Old Woman Learning the Alphabet, Mocked by a Young Girl (c. 1550; Florence, Uffizi). Anguissola's Cremonese works also include a small number of religious paintings, mainly for private devotion, as is evident from the small size of the Holy Family (350_300 mm, 1559; Bergamo, Gal. Accad. Carrara), which is based on a prototype by Camillo Boccaccino (Glasgow, A.G. & Mus.); however, the Pietà (c. 1570; Milan, Brera), which is traditionally attributed to her, is not characteristic of her style and is certainly by Bernardino Campi. In 1559 Sofonisba was invited to the court of Madrid through the offices of Ferdinand Alvarez de Toledo (150882), Duke of Alba, and of the Duca di Sessa, the Governor of Milan, one of Campi's principal patrons. There, she was chosen by Philip II to be an attendant to the Infanta Isabella (15661633), and she also became lady-in-waiting to the queen, Elizabeth of Valois (15451568). In Spain, Sofonisba pursued her work as a portrait painter, although the Althorp Self-portrait is the only securely attributed work surviving from this period. In Madrid c. 1571 she married the nobleman Fabrizio de Moncada, brother of the Viceroy of Sicily, Francesco II, and she then settled in Sicily. In 1584, after his death, she married the Genoese nobleman Orazio Lomellino and moved to his native city. In both Palermo and Genoa she continued to paint and to preserve her links with the aristocracy, as is evinced by the visit of the Spanish Infanta, who was in Genoa in 1599, the date of her portrait of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia (Vienna, Ksthist. Mus.). Anthony van Dyck visited Anguissola in Palermo in July 1624 and drew a portrait of her in his so-called Italian Sketchbook (London, BM), on which he noted that she was 96 (if true, this would alter her presumed birthdate) but still lucid and enthusiastic about painting. In the few surviving paintings from her Genoese period there appears to be considerable borrowing from the work of Luca Cambiaso. Indeed, the Virgin Suckling the Infant Christ (Budapest, Mus. F.A.) was attributed to Cambiaso until cleaning revealed a signature that confirmed it as the work of Anguissola, dated 1588. The Holy Family with St Anne and the Young St John (1592; Coral Gables, FL, U. Miami, Lowe A. Mus.), which is signed, like the Budapest painting, with her husband's surname, Lomellino, is also based on the work of Cambiaso. (Grove Art Online accessed 2006-06-19)
Work Style Period:
16th century
work_styleperiod
16th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
Italian Renaissance-Baroque styles
work_styleperiod
Italian Renaissance-Baroque styles
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
women (female humans)
subject
women (female humans)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
musical instruments
subject
musical instruments
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
spinets
subject
spinets
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
music
subject
music
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
artists (visual artists)
subject
artists (visual artists)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
self-portraits
subject
self-portraits
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
portraits
subject
portraits
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
musicians
subject
musicians
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
oil paintings
work_type
oil paintings
Work Worktype
false
Work Worktype:
paintings (visual works)
work_type
paintings (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
paintings
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
paintings
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
oil on canvas
Work Measurements (display):
56 cm (H) X 48 cm (W)
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
Museo e gallerie nazionali di Capodimonte
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
repository
Work Location (Repository or Site) refid:
358
Work Location (Repository or Site) refid type:
accession
Work Location (Geographic) name:
Naples, Italy
Image Rights (display):
© Ronald Wiedenhoeft. Licensed for educational use via Scholars Resource: Saskia, Ltd.
Image Rights license agreement:
SASKIA, LTD.: WHO CAN USE THIS SOFTWARE: (a) Licensee, including faculty, staff and currently enrolled students may use the Licensed Software to display and or print the corresponding graphic images without limitation for teaching and research purposes at the defined Sites, or at remote locations having electronic access to your Site(s). (b) This license include permission to use the Licensed Software on a multi-user network at the defined Site, and to permit remote access to a computer/server located at your Site. Simultaneous display in multiple locations at or connected to the Site is also permitted. (c) Licensee agrees to employ reasonable security measures designed to limit access to your faculty, staff and currently enrolled students. PROHIBITED USES AND LIMITATIONS: (a) Saskia hereby reserves all rights not expressly granted herein. (b) the License Software may not be used for preparaiton of any publication, scholarly or otherwise; or for any purpose other than teaching or research. Publication of an image from the Licensed Software requires a separate license from Saskia. (c) Licensee agrees not to resell, lease, transfer, sub-license or otherwise distribute a copy of the Licensed Software, or any image taken from the Licensed Software, in whole or in part. (d) Licensee also agrees not to modify, corrupt or alter any digital image graphic content or "digital watermark" or the like in the software provided by Saskia under this Agreement. (e) Licensee agrees not to remove, alter, cover or distort Saskia's copyright notice, trademark, or other proprietary rights notice placed by Saskia in the Licensed Software itself, or in the associated packaging, media or documentation. (f) And Licensee agrees to notify users of the Licensed Software, in writing or by sign-on screen display, of their obligations under this Agreement and solicit their cooperation and compliance with such obligations.
Work Rights (display):
public domain
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Center
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see