Lucia Anguissola
Lucia Anguissola | |
---|---|
Born | Lucia Anguissola 1536 or 1538 Cremona, Italy |
Died | c. 1565, before 1568 |
Nationality | Italian |
Known for | Painting |
Movement | Italian Mannerism |
Lucia Anguissola (1536 or 1538 – c. 1565–1568) was an Italian
One of her extant paintings, Portrait of Pietro Manna, (early 1560s)[3] was praised by Giorgio Vasari, who saw it when he visited the family after her death. He wrote that Lucia, "dying, had left of herself not less fame than that of Sofonisba, through several paintings by her own hand, not less beautiful and valuable than those by the sister."[4]
Lucia Anguissola is represented in a painting of 1555 by her sister Sofonisba titled The Chess Game, along with her younger sisters Minerva and Europa. Lucia appears at the far left, with both hands on the chess board; Europa, smiling, is the youngest girl; and Minerva appears at the right, raising her right hand; a servant stands behind them.[5] The painting suggests the interactions between the siblings and represents their high status. Lucia gazes directly at the viewer, suggesting her connection to Sofonisba, but also seeming to invite the viewer to join in.[6]
Paintings
Portrait of Pietro Manna (Maria)
The Portrait of Pietro Manna, misidentified by Giorgio Vasari as a portrait of Pietro Maria,[7] is estimated to be made around 1557–1560. The portrait suggests aspects of Lucia's education in humanism, classical mythology, psychology, and art. It is also the only painting she signed with her full name. Her signature reads “Lucia Anguissola Amilcaris F[ilia] Adolescens F[ecit].” This could translate as “Lucia Anguissola, adolescent daughter of Amilcare, made this,”[7] although one argument suggests that the word "adolescens" might be better translated as "growing" and used to indicate that she was continuing to mature, as Lucia Anguissola should have been in her early twenties when she made this portrait.[8]
In this painting, she represented her family's name and heritage. The man sitting in the portrait is thought to be a relative to the Anguissola family, and commonly assumed to be a physician or doctor, but that is false. The snake on the rod in his left hand has two meanings. A rod with a snake wrapped around it can be an
Self Portrait
In Lucia Anguissola's Self Portrait (1557) she portrays herself sitting in modest clothing, with a book in her left hand. This book has been identified as either a
Other works
Lucia's only other signed work is a half-length self-portrait (c. 1557).[10] Lucia also painted a Virgin and Child, and A Portrait of a Woman (early 1560s; Rome, Gal. Borghese) is thought to be either a self-portrait by her or Sofonisba, or a portrait of Lucia by Sofonisba. Two portraits, in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia and the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan, probably of Minerva Anguissola, may also be by Lucia.
References
- ^ OCLC 54500479.
- ^ Gaze, Delia (1997). Dictionary of Women Artists: Artists, J-Z. Taylor & Francis. p. 190.
- ^ Museo del Prado in Madrid.
- ^ ISBN 978-8876249198.
- ISBN 978-8876249198.
- JSTOR 2863021.
- ^ a b c d Hull, Vida (December 2011). "The Single Serpent: Family Pride and Female Education in a Portrait by Lucia Anguissola, a Woman Artist of the Renaissance". SECAC Review. XVI (1).
- JSTOR 2863021.
- OCLC 999615567.
- ^ Castello Sforzesco in Milan.
Bibliography
- Henry Gardiner Adams, ed. (1857). "Wikidata Q115738537.
- Perlingieri,Ilya Sandra, Sofonisba Anguissola,, Rizzoli International, 1992 ISBN 0-8478-1544-7
- Harris, Anne Sutherland and Linda Nochlin, Women Artists: 1550-1950, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Knopf, New York, 1976
External links
- Media related to Lucia Anguissola at Wikimedia Commons