The Other Anguissolas: Four Forgotten Renaissance Women Painters Take the Spotlight
There can be no doubt that Sofonisba Anguissola was a star of the Renaissance era. The Italian painter lived just shy of a century, and in that time won the admiration of Michelangelo, who offered mentorship in her early twenties, and a young Anthony van Dyck, who painted her in her late nineties. A celebrated member of the Spanish court, Sofonisba gained international renown for portraits that broke with stuffy formality in favor of a more tender vivacity. Her legacy was secured when Giorgio Vasari praised her talents “as a miracle” in his Lives of the Artists, one of art history’s foundational texts.
Much less well known, however, were four more Anguissolas who also paved their way as painters in the heavily male-dominated art world of 16th-century Italy. Sofonisba was the first of six sisters, of whom all but one became artists. The contributions of these long-forgotten women are finally being brought to light this fall by the exhibition “ Woman Painter,” opening at the National Museum in Oslo. An adapted version of the show, which features 19 women in total, will later travel to the Galleria Borghese in Rome.
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Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-portrait at the Spinet (ca. 1555–1560). Image courtesy of MiC – Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Napoli.
Born in the northern Italian city of Cremona between around 1532 and 1555, each of the sisters’ stories is different. Elena, the second eldest, became a nun. Lucia, whose work Vasari described as “no less beautiful and valuable” than Sofonisba’s, died young. Still younger sisters Europa and Anna Maria both found husbands, while a sixth sister, Minerva, eschewed art to pursue classical studies. Their paths and, in some cases, their thwarted ambitions, reveal the challenges that so many women faced in becoming artists. Meanwhile, Sofonisba’s success reveals the power of her savvy self-promotion.
From the start, the Anguissola story was unusual. Whereas Artemisia Gentileschi, Lavinia Fontana, and many more women in the Oslo exhibition trained under their artist fathers and later joined trade guilds, this option was out of the question for women of the sisters’ noble birth. The Anguissolas would likely never have considered painting more than a pastime were it not for the encouragement of their penniless father. Painfully aware that he would never be able to raise six dowries to secure favorable marriages for his daughters, Amilcare Anguissola relied instead on education to give them the best start in life.
Sofonisba Anguissola, Portrait Group with the Artist’s Father Amilcare Anguissola and Her Siblings Minerva and Asdrubale (ca. 1559). Image: Nivaagaards Malerisamling.
One charming 1555 painting by Sofonisba shows Lucia and Minerva playing chess, watched by Europa. The game was revered for its reliance on ingenuity over chance. But the sisters would need to make a living, so when Sofonisba and Elena showed early promise under the tutelage of local painter Bernardino Campi, they eventually became his full-time apprentices. In turn, Sofonisba trained Lucia, Europa, and Anna Maria.
Elena was on the cusp of adolescence when she and her older sister moved into the house where Campi lived with his wife. It is likely that the girls were expected to carry out domestic tasks to earn their keep, while first learning to copy masterworks before eventually graduating to drawing from life. When Campi left Cremona in around 1550, the two sisters studied under Bernadino Gatti.
Elena Anguissola, Portrait of Elena Anguissola as the Blessed Osanna Andreasi (1555–1558). Photo: Mauro Coen, © Galleria Borghese.
Amilcare’s promotion helped secure Sofonisba a position at the Spanish court, befitting her social status. For her work as lady-in-waiting and art tutor to Queen Elisabeth of Valois, the painter received a generous, lifelong income from King Philip II. Elena, meanwhile, became a Dominican nun, entering a the convent of San Vincenzo in Mantua. Her self-portrait shows her in the guise of Saint Catherine of Siena, holding a lily to symbolize her purity. Another portrait of Elena as Saint Minerva has been attributed to Sofonisba.
The exhibition’s curator Cynthia Osiecki noted that Elena was in contact with Mantua’s ruling family, the Gonzagas, who may have commissioned her as a painter. “As a nun, you buy yourself another kind of freedom,” she said. “You can paint for the monastery and you can also take commissions.”
Lucia died of unknown causes in her late twenties, just as she was gaining recognition for intimate portraits that threatened to rival even those of her eldest sister. This was the opinion, at least, of the 17th-century art historian Filippo Baldinucci, who wrote that she had the potential to become a superior artist.
Lucia Anguissola, Portrait of a Woman (Bianca Ponzoni Anguissola?) (1556). Photo: Mauro Coen, © Galleria Borghese.
Sadly, Osiecki noted, we know little about Lucia. One of her best-known works is Portrait of Pietro Manna, from around 1557, which was admired by Vasari after her death. It is thought to depict a family member because a snake winding up the sitter’s staff is likely a reference to the artist’s name: “Anguis Sola” in Latin, or “lone snake.” A slightly earlier portrait by Lucia, included in the Oslo show, is thought to depict the sisters’ mother Bianca Ponzoni.
Like Lucia, Europa was trained under Sofonisba. In the late 1560s, she married the nobleman Carlo Schinchinelli, and one rare, surviving example of her work is believed to depict her mother-in-law in a long, black dress. The painting was previously deemed to be a self-portrait by Sofonisba, but its sitter is much older than the artist would have been at the time it was painted, in the 1570s. The correct identification of the work was only made in 2022 thanks to an inscription on the back of the canvas.
Noble families in 16th-century Italy were under intense pressure to keep up appearances, leading Osiecki to speculate that Europa may well have continued painting after her marriage. “It would be some nice extra income that would be within the social rules of the day,” she said. The Anguissola sisters likely did not sign all of their works, many of which doubtless remain lost to history.
Europa Anguissola, Portrait of the Artist’s Mother-in-law (1571–1578). Photo: Nivaagaards Malerisamling.
Very few works have been attributed to the youngest Anguissola, Anna Maria, with Osiecki suggesting that she may not have been as talented as her sisters. One religious painting, held at the Museo Civico Ala Ponzone, has been identified.
While Sofonisba’s sisters never received the recognition they deserved, in life and after death, she was able to take full advantage of her position at court to become the first Renaissance woman artist to find international fame. King Philip II of Spain provided a large dowry upon her 1573 marriage to a Sicilian nobleman. After his death, under suspicious circumstances in 1579, she married a younger sea captain, this time for love and despite the disapproval of the king and her brother.
Independently wealthy, Sofonisba appears to have worked less in later life. But she is perhaps most remembered for the many self-portraits she produced over the decades. “She advertised herself really well. Her image is very well known,” said Osiecki. “It suggests that image creation was important for business.”
“ Woman Painter” is on view at the National Museum, Brynjulf Bulls plass 3, Oslo, Norway, October 8, 2026–February 7, 2027.