Sofonisba Anguissola

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Sofonisba Anguissola was one of the most prominent female painters of the Renaissance. Not only was she one of only four women mentioned by Giorgio Vasari in his famous Lives of the Artists, she also paved the way for later female artists. One may look at Sofonisba’s upbringing and assume that her talents were a result of her wealth and family background. However, if investigated more carefully through both analytical secondary sources and primary sources, it becomes clear that Sofonisba’s painting abilities formed because of her talent, not her wealth. Sofonisba integrated herself into the artistic community and used her second-class status as a female painter to accelerate her career: because she was not able to study as an apprentice in a workshop, her models were usually family members, she pioneered the style of genre painting. Historian Joan Kelly argues in her essay, “Did Women Have a Renaissance?” that women did not experience a Renaissance during the actual Renaissance. Sofonisba’s training and connections were extremely helpful to launch her career, refuting Kelly’s argument that women only were taught “charm” during the Renaissance. In addition, Sofonisba married her second husband for love, not for money, debunking Kelly’s argument that marriages during the Renaissance were not based on love. Though Sofonisba’s life as a woman is a unique case in terms of wealth and profession, her success and fame, talent, and marriage (van dyck?) disprove Kelly’s argument that women did not have a Renaissance during the Renaissance.
Sofonisba was fortunate enough to receive unique extensive training in painting and the liberal arts at a young age, a consequence of her family’s wealth and her father’s desire for all his children...

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Archive & annotate page Perlingieri, Ilya Sandra. "Sofonisba Anguissola's Early Sketches." Woman's Art
Journal 9, no. 2 (Fall/Winter 1988): 10-14. Accessed October 8, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1358314. ———. Sofonisba Anguissola: The First Great Woman Artist of the
Renaissance. New York, NY: Rizzoli International Publications, 1992.

Van Dyck, Anthony. "Commemorazioni di artisti minori. Sofonisba Anguissola"
[Commemoration of the Minor Artist, Sofonisba Anguissola]. La Fototeca Di
Emporium. Accessed November 3, 2013. http://www.artivisive.sns.it/fototeca/ scheda.php?id=40245. Vasari, Giorgio. Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, & Architects.
Translated by Gaston Du C. De Vere. London, England: Macmillan, 1912. PDF
e-book.

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