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Sofonisba Anguissola: The First Great Woman Artist of the Renaissance
Traces the life of the Italian artist who was an apprentice to Michelangelo and court painter to King Philip II of Spain, and discusses her major paintings
- GenresArtArt History
224 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 8, 2015
What a wonderful book about Sofonisba Anguissola, the First Great Woman Artist of the Renaissance! I have been interested in her art and her life ever since my trip to Tuscany when I was researching Renaissance art for my trip and discovered her and many other women artists of the 1500s. Her work inspired future generations of artists and paved the way for women to become artists in a male dominated field. I loved this book and recommend it to anyone who wants to be inspired to be successful, despite hardships they may face.
March 6, 2023
After trying one of the (unsatisfactory) biographical novels on this wonderful artist I was looking forward to finding out about the real woman. This book starts well, with a very helpful picture of life in Cremona at the time in which she lived, a history of the Anguissola family and the origins of the children’s first names.
The publishers/editors have fallen down on the job in places. There is a fascinating section on Sofonisba’s early sketches but sadly Plate 18, which purportedly shows a self portrait ‘in black chalk on bluish white paper’ is missing from the text, which goes from Plate 17 to Plate 19. Also, the plates often appear in the text in no logical order so it’s quite difficult to find the one mentioned in the narrative.
It’s also a pity that Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola painting had yet to be restored at the time the book was written so that the ‘third arm’ in the painting had not been revealed. Not the author's fault of course!
The author mentions the influence of the ‘mannerist’ school of painters but to me this is little in evidence in her work. The striking and appealing aspect of her portraits is the wonderfully lifelike quality they have. The eyes, especially in her self-portraits, seem to be looking straight at one.
In the course of her research, the author uncovered several documents and items of correspondence relating to Sofonisba as well as several paintings which, she argues convincingly, were mis-attributed. But it’s a tragedy that dozens of her paintings appear to have been lost in palace fires and dozens more that are documented cannot be traced. There must surely be treasures waiting to be re-discovered in the store rooms of art galleries around Europe, and beyond.
Toward the end of the book the author becomes far too speculative and the text is full of comments like ‘Sofonisba may well have been living in ‘x’ at the time and could have met ‘y’.
The publishers/editors have fallen down on the job in places. There is a fascinating section on Sofonisba’s early sketches but sadly Plate 18, which purportedly shows a self portrait ‘in black chalk on bluish white paper’ is missing from the text, which goes from Plate 17 to Plate 19. Also, the plates often appear in the text in no logical order so it’s quite difficult to find the one mentioned in the narrative.
It’s also a pity that Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola painting had yet to be restored at the time the book was written so that the ‘third arm’ in the painting had not been revealed. Not the author's fault of course!
The author mentions the influence of the ‘mannerist’ school of painters but to me this is little in evidence in her work. The striking and appealing aspect of her portraits is the wonderfully lifelike quality they have. The eyes, especially in her self-portraits, seem to be looking straight at one.
In the course of her research, the author uncovered several documents and items of correspondence relating to Sofonisba as well as several paintings which, she argues convincingly, were mis-attributed. But it’s a tragedy that dozens of her paintings appear to have been lost in palace fires and dozens more that are documented cannot be traced. There must surely be treasures waiting to be re-discovered in the store rooms of art galleries around Europe, and beyond.
Toward the end of the book the author becomes far too speculative and the text is full of comments like ‘Sofonisba may well have been living in ‘x’ at the time and could have met ‘y’.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews