Sofonisba Anguissola

Sofonisba Anguissola painted people she knew: her sisters, her father, herself. Her early portraits are relaxed and warm, with children and family caught in real moments rather than stiff poses. The Game of Chess, showing three of her sisters at the board, is the best known of these.

She was born around 1532 in Cremona to a noble family that encouraged all its daughters to study. She trained with Bernardino Campi and Bernardino Gatti, an unusual path for a woman at the time, and received advice from Michelangelo in Rome. In 1559 she went to the Spanish court, where she served the queen and painted the royal family for over a decade. She later lived in Sicily and Genoa and died in Palermo in 1625, in her nineties. Her works hang in the Prado, the Uffizi, Vienna and Boston, among others.

In her self-portraits, notice the direct, steady gaze. She painted herself many times, from her twenties to old age.