SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA
Pioneer of her time, Sofonisba Anguissola, shows us the strident bravery inside a self-portrait.
Self-portrait at the Easel Painting a Devotional Panel (1556)
Born into a noble family in the northern Italian city of Cremona, Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1532-1625) was part of the lucky ones. She was raised and her sisters in a very artistically inclined environment, covering everything related to a humanist education (as was required from a respectable family in the Renaissance). That said, women were not expected to have these activities as more than mere pastimes. A woman could not be a professional artist. A woman could not, under any circumstances, choose a different path from the one already chosen for her. A woman was born to be a delicate ornament and to bear children.
People tend to think that women artists are relatively new, which could not be further from the truth. Women have been artists from the exact moment men have been, just never recognized as such. Nonetheless, it is even more surprising and problematic when today we keep forgetting about them; we keep feeding that myth that claims they did not exist when we have access to the proof that they did and produced masterpieces. An ideal example of this is Sofonisba Anguissola.
We do not know precisely why, but Anguissola had her father's consent and support to maintain her interest in painting, which was rare. Thus, she got to be the pupil of Bernardino Campi, and, later on, she would join Bernardino Gatti. With both of them, she studied the works of Correggio and Parmigianino. In 1559 she ended up working for King Philip II of Spain as the court lady of Elisabeth of Valois; she also was responsible for some of the portraits of the family, getting close to Elisabeth and developing a friendship with her.
Anguissola was well known for her portraits, able to capture life at its realest, almost like we could see the soul of the person she depicted. The personalities in her canvases seem warm, and her paintings give a sense of intimacy. Her works emanate this aura of knowledge that shows how incredibly sharp and intuitive she must have been. She was so good that she gained the interest and respect of no other than Michelangelo Buonarroti, who would give her advice and praise her technique and with whom she exchanged letters and drawings.
Self-portrait at the Easel Painting a Devotional Panel (1556) is a sneak peek of what Baroque would be. The darker tones, the use of the chiaroscuro (interplay of light and shadow), but still with the calmness, serenity, and rigidity characteristic of the Renaissance portraits.
The truth is that this work's significance lies beyond the brushstrokes' technique and precision. She depicts herself painting. Not sitting quietly, with her hands resting on her lap, looking like an ingénue. None of that. She looks directly at us like we just found her in the middle of working. The brush almost touches the canvas, where we see the image of The Virgin and Child. Noteworthy is the delicateness with which she represents her hands, so much so that it could remind us of Leonardo da Vinci; the exquisite details on the collar all reinforce the fact that she was an extremely talented painter.
Now the responsibility is ours. We are the ones who must talk about women artists that were well known and respected at some level in their time but seem to be banned from the books and the classrooms today.
In this self-portrait, Anguissola seems unbothered; our presence means little to her, but her eyes are a different story; they are wise and intelligent. Moreover, she knows people must be asking questions: a woman painting? She claims her right to be so by representing herself as an artist. She screams without sound:
I can too. I am too. I will too.
