 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Self Portrait 1554 oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Self Portrait, painting a Devotional Panel 1556 oil on canvas Łańcut Castle, Poland |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Portrait of a Canon of the Lateran 1556 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Portrait of Massimiliano Stampa 1557 oil on canvas Walters Art Museum, Baltimore |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Portrait of Alessandro Farnese, later Duke of Parma and Piacenza ca. 1560 oil on canvas (painted in Spain, where Farnese was a hostage) National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Portrait of Joanna of Austria, Princess of Portugal ca. 1560-70 oil on canvas private collection |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Portrait of Joanna of Austria with a Little Girl 1561 oil on canvas Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Portrait of a Boy at the Spanish Court ca. 1565-70 oil on canvas San Diego Museum of Art |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Portrait of Infantas Isabella Clara Eugenia and Catalina Micaela 1570 oil on canvas Royal Collection, Great Britain |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Portrait of Philip II of Spain 1573 oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Portrait of a Young Lady ca. 1580 oil on canvas Museo Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Portrait of a Boy and Girl of the Attavanti Family ca. 1580-85 oil on panel Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Portrait of a Man with his Daughter ca. 1580-90 oil on canvas National Museum, Warsaw |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Portrait of Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia ca. 1597-98 oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid |
 |
| Sofonisba Anguissola Marriage Portrait of Margaret of Savoy, Duchess of Mantua 1604 oil on canvas Galleria Sabauda, Turin |
"Born to a noble family from Cremona, Sofonisba Anguissola learned painting alongside her five sisters. Her first studies, from around 1545, were with Bernardino Campi. Then, beginning in 1549, she continued with Bernardino Gatti. After visiting her family, Vasari remarked on Anguissola's preparation in both painting and drawing. . . . It has been observed that her early works were influenced by her teach Campi, who was also an outstanding portrait painter. And through him, Anguissola appears to have been influenced by Correggio, whose work held sway in Cremona over the course of that century. . . . In 1559 she was invited to Philip II's court in Madrid, thanks to the duke of Alba and to the duke of Sessa, who was then governor of Milan. After moving to Madrid, she continued to paint portraits while engaged as one of the ladies in waiting to Queen Elizabeth of Valois. Around 1571 Anguissola married Fabrizio de Moncada, whose brother was Viceroy of Sicily, and moved to that island. Following her first husband's death, she married the Genoese nobleman Orazio Lomellino, dividing her time between Genoa and Palermo, where Anthony van Dyck visited her in 1624. While there, he captured her likeness in his travel notebook, adding that her age – she was by then past ninety – in no way weakened her insightful mind and her capacity to discuss painting."
– from curator's notes at Museo del Prado, Madrid