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Sofonisba Anguisola (c.1532-1625) by Raffaele Soprani (1674), from 'Life Stories of Women Artists, 1550-1800: An Anthology' by Julia K. Dabbs (2009).
Explore the remarkable life of Sofonisba Anguissola, a pioneering female artist of the Renaissance, as narrated by Raffaele Soprani. Born in 1532, her artistic journey took her from Cremona to the roy...
Sofonisba Anguisola (c.1532-1625) by Raffaele Soprani (1674), from 'Life Stories of Women Artists, 1550-1800: An Anthology' by Julia K. Dabbs (2009).
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Speaker A
Hello. Thank you for listening to Art History at bedtime. My name is Bendel Grosvenor. This story is the life of Sophonisba Anguissola, who was born in about 1532 and died in 1625. It was first published by Raffaelli Soprani in 1674 as part of his Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects from Genoa. This translation is by Julia Dabbs with the assistance of Pierana Garavoso, and was published in 2009 as part of Julia Dabbs Life Stories of Women Artists, 1550-1800, an anthology. @ the end of Soprani's text I shall include the note by Van Dyck that he refers to. With the great sense of conflict in my soul, Sophonisba Anguissola Lomellina is recorded by my pen amidst the foreign painters. Although she lived for a long time in Genoa, where she married for the second time, I have good reason to call her Genoese, but not wanting in any way to be prejudicial to the city of Cremona, where she had her very noble birth and virtuous education, I find myself forced to put her in this place. She was the daughter of Signor Amilcare Anguissola and Signora Bianca Ponzona, by whom she was raised with care and by means of excellent teachers, was put on the path of every sort of skill, and especially in literature, in music, and in painting. She had in these studies the company of her three sisters, Lucia, Jo, Europa, and Anna, all truly miraculous in talent, and who, because of their own gifts, have merited acclaim from the most learned pens. However, this acclaim is owed even more to Sophonisba, who, surpassing by far the female sex, made herself outstanding among women because of the varied knowledge she possessed, and because in the art of painting she competed with the most established brushes, the great part of which she even showed herself to be superior to in merit. She had as her director in the art of drawing Giulio Campi, a painter in those times, who was the most esteemed among the Cremenesi, and within a short time she was made very knowledgeable by him in perspective, and so expert in the difficulty that is inherent to the exercise of the brushes, that, seeing with what boldness of hand she drew on paper, her unusual ideas caused not a little marvel, since one of these drawings succeeded admirably among the others, it was sent by Signor Tommaso Cavalieri, a gentleman of Rome, to the Grand Duke Cosimo, and represented some crawfish in a basket. One of which, biting the hand of a boy, causes him to bawl, making a pretty young lady who was near him burst into laughter. That drawing later came to the hands of Giorgio Vasari and was placed by him in his book among the drawings of the most esteemed masters. Another similar caprice was likewise drawn by Sophonisba, in which a laughing young girl points to an old woman who is attentively studying an Alphabet on a child's chart. A truly lively conception, by means of which the Cremenese painter, acquiring much praise, continued with greater courage the profession she undertook. Being greatly inclined to doing portraits from life, she portrayed her brother, Signor Astrobale, and her sister, Signora Minerva, among whom is placed Signor Amilcare, her father, who all came out very lifelike. With the acquisition then of great fame. She painted at various times some ladies and gentlemen of her homeland and Vasari affirms that the archdeacon of the major church in Piacenza highly esteemed two very lively portraits by her hand, which represented herself and the just named prelate. But she, always seeking to perfect herself further in art, attempted to make in painting some portraits which, without losing very similitude at all, formed a pretty and delightful story. In that work, truly of extremely subtle skill, Sophonisba demonstrated very felicitous brushworks, having expressed from life her sisters in the act of playing chess, and an old woman who watches them with attention. The refinement of such works made the novice painter so admired that the Duke of Alba, a gentleman devoted to virtue, persuaded Philip ii, King of Spain, to try to bring her to his court. The King, without losing any time, had the Duke of Sessa, governor of Milan, asked Signor Amilcari for her, who had no difficulty in giving her up. Thus he very quickly took her to Milan, where, having arrived, she was visited by the above named individual, who notified her of the desire of his Majesty and provided her with that which was necessary for the voyage. He additionally begged her to make a portrait of himself before she left, and in a few days she had portrayed him in such a lifelike manner that she received as a gift 4 pieces of brocade of various colors and many other things of great value and of much cost. Accompanied then by two very high ranking gentlemen and by as many ladies and six servants. She travelled to Spain in 1559 and with a good journey arrived very quickly in that kingdom in whose royal palace she was as very courteously received by the Catholic royalty as she had been avidly desired by them. She was assigned for her place of lodging an honourable and very comfortable apartment, in which, in order to refresh herself from suffering experienced in the long journey, she stayed in repose for some days. Afterwards she was invited to the rooms of the Queen in order to make a portrait for her, which came out overflowing with every exquisiteness having given to it, besides verisimilitude, an air of man majesty which authorized her as divine, so that when the King saw it, he also insisted that his portrait be made by the hand of Sophonisba, which similarly came out extremely lifelike and marvellously handsome, and she was rewarded by that monarch with a secure pension of 200 scudi per year. She then set to work portraying Prince Carlos, representing him, wearing a gown with lynx fur, trim and other beautiful ornaments, so felicitously expressed that she was very quickly rewarded with a diamond valued at 1500 scudi for it, an ornament truly proportionate to those hands whose work must be forever considered superior in worth to the most precious jewels. Now, while she was engaged in Spain in making the work of her felicitous brushes shine the Here comes the Supreme Pontiff Pius iv, who, desiring the portrait of the queen, took steps in order to have it from Sophonisba's hands, and promptly satisfying him, she sent it to him, accompanied by an elegant and very kind letter. The pontiff courteously thanked her in response, and sending her costly devotional gifts with many rosaries of agate and other precious stones, gave an indication of his unordinary pleasure. Since she was increasing evermore in reputation and in esteem, she was chosen by their Majesties from among the other ladies to take care of their child. In that role the virtuous lady conducted herself with such skill and prudence that, in addition to having made herself admirable for her gifts to all the court, her behaviour caused the king himself to think that he should have her get married in Spain, in order to ensure that she would always be settled in his kingdom. But understanding that, she humbly begged him that should he want to have her married, it must happen in some city in Italy. She was very quickly accommodated in that, for the King gave her in marriage to Signor Don Fabrizio de Moncada, of Sicily, a gentleman of great valor, wealth and nobility, all awarding her a secure pension of 1,000 ducats a year under the jurisdiction of the customs house in Palermo, with the ability to authorize a male child to inherit it from her. Besides that, he gave her a total of 12,000 scudi, with the addition of various jewels rich clothing and tapestries of inestimable value. To these gifts the queen generously added a dress, all adorned with pearls, with a value of 900 scudi. Thus one could rightly say that, heaped with thanks and pleasantly suffocated by such an abundance of kindness, Sophonisba was honourably taken to Sicily, leaving in the court of Spain a longing for her kind habits and virtuous manners. Having arrived in Sicily, she always kept alive her long standing respect towards the crown of Spain, in spite of the distance, receiving, therefore, through correspondence, distinguished favors, which made her worthy of much esteem with the most important gentleman and with the viceroy himself, whose favour she was always accustomed to seek for the relief and for the benefit of many that turned to her for assistance. So then she lived on that island, dear to everyone, applying herself continuously to give spirit to the canvases, in which now, with some lively portrait, and at other times with the expression of devout and lovely histories, she always made stand out the excellence and the liveliness of her divine brushes. After a few years, when Signor Fabrizio, her husband, had passed to the better life, she received notice that their Royal Majesties wanted her again in the court of Spain. But she, desirous of seeing her homeland again, very sweetly rejected the invitation. With the purpose of returning to Cremona, she embarked on a galley of the fleet of Genoa, governed by Signor Orazio Lomellini, a Genoese gentleman from whom she received so many kindnesses and favours during the voyage that she considered herself obliged to him, not only to give him indications of pleasure, but much more to devote herself to him, offering herself as a spouse. The generous gentlemen, having willingly consented to that, they celebrated their marriage with reciprocal satisfaction and with the approval of the Catholic Majesty, and she was given a gift of 400 scudi every year. This second marriage obligated her to totally forget her paternal home and to stay in Genoa, where not much time went by before Her Majesty the Empress passed through. On the occasion of her journey to Spain, the painter presented her with a small painting, one of the most esteemed works that had ever issued forth from her fecund genius, and she had from her in exchange a thousand kindnesses and favors. The Infanta of Spain, married to the Archduke Alberto, also passed through Genoa, and before whom Sophonisba, previously her tutor, presented herself. She received her with tender affection and was so pleased to see her again that she spent many hours of those days in private conversation while she stayed there and commissioned a portrait of herself from her. And because she couldn't stay until the work was perfectly finished. She gave her the charge of sending it to her, which she promptly carried out, receiving as a reward a very beautiful gold necklace embellished with very precious jewels. And truly we must confirm that in the making of lifelike portraits, not only did Sophonisbus surpass the artifice of the most expert painters, but she made the excellence of her brushes equal to those of Titian. Pietro Paola Ribera wrote about Sophonisba in book 14, and Vasari wrote about her in the life story of Properzia de Rossi, Bolognese sculptor, and in the life story of Benvenuto Garofolo, where he recalls the letters that she sent to the pontiff, as we have said in Rome, in the palace of the Villa Borghesi, in the room called Seneca, among the works of the most esteemed painters, is conserved one made by the hand of this famous matron, where she, with a truly angelic style, portrayed herself with Signor Amilcardi, her father and her little brother Asdrobale and in Genoa, Signor Giovanni Geronimo Lomellini keeps, like a very precious jewel, another of her small self portraits, and one can't see anything more worthy than it. This virtuous lady lived until her advanced old age and had totally lost her sight. Since she found herself no longer capable of working with a brush, she at least enjoyed conversing with painters, always discussing the difficulty that they were encountering in art and offering them very rare and useful documents. Whence Anthony van Dyck used to say that he considered himself very indebted to have conversed with Sophonisba, and confessed to having received much greater instruction from the words of a blind woman than from the works of the most esteemed painters. And let this be the end of the present discourse, since I don't know how better to make evident the merit of such a glorious painter than with the testimony of a virtuoso in whose works we see idolized by everyone. Anthony Van Dyck's record of his meeting with Sofonisba Anguissola. Portrait of Signora Sophonisma done from the life at Palermo in the year 1624 on the 12th of July, her age being 96 years, still with her memory very quick witted and kind, and although through great age she has lost her sight, she loves to have pictures put in front of her, and then by placing her nose to the picture, she could make out a little of it, and it pleased her greatly to do this, as I was doing her portrait. She warned me not to take the light too high in case the shadows in the wrinkles of old age become too strong, and gave me much other good advice. Meanwhile, she told me the story of her life, from which I learned that she was a very skilled painter from nature and and that the greatest misfortune she had was because of failed eyesight. She could no longer paint, although her hand was firm with no trace of a tremor.
Speaker B
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