About


ABOUT THE ARTIST

Sofonisba Anguissola was a remarkable Renaissance painter and the first female artist to become internationally famous during her lifetime.

She was born around 1532 in Cremona, Duchy of Milan (at the time under Spanish rule), and her life could be divided into five different chapters: 

  • CREMONA, c.1532-1559; 
  • SPAIN, 1559-1573; 
  • PATERNÒ (SICILY), 1573-1579; 
  • GENOA, 1580-1615; 
  • PALERMO (SICILY), 1615-1625 (possibly 1632). 

To learn more about Sofonisba Anguissola's life, please visit this page.

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IMPORTANT: The information in the next section relates to the retrospective of Italian Renaissance artist Sofonisba Anguissola (c.1532-1625) that was online at House Anguissola (a building in Colonia Nova, Second Life) between February 1 and October 15, 2025. Although the venue (the virtual building) may still exist, this exhibition can no longer be visited in SL. 


ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

THE REMARKABLE ART AND LIFE OF SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA exhibition features 31 artworks and focuses mainly on the first and second chapters of Sofonisba Anguissola's life — Cremona and Spain.


For more information about the works on display, use each room's HUD. 

There are five HUDs, one per room. 

To obtain a HUD, just touch the INFO button on the wall of each room.


The exhibition catalog is available as a 3D book in Room 4 on the second floor and as a video on YouTube (link in the same room). 


Also, in case the INFO buttons don't work, there are copies of all five HUDs in Room 4.


GIFTS

Visitors can collect gifts as well—three at the moment, all on the ground floor: a wall calendar featuring Sofonisba's painting The Chess Game, a box with two drawings by Sofonisba, and a pendant.  


Below is a list of the artworks by Sofonisba Anguissola (or related to her) currently featured at House Anguissola:

1st Floor

Room 1: THE ANGUISSOLA HOUSEHOLD

  • FRAME #1: Portrait of the Artist's Family, oil on canvas (1558–59).
  • FRAME #2: The Chess Game, oil on canvas (1555).
  • FRAME #3: Portrait of the artist’s mother, Bianca Ponzoni Anguissola, oil on canvas (1557).
  • FRAMES #4 & #5: Two drawings: ‘Old Woman Studying the Alphabet with a Laughing Girl’ (c.1550s) and ‘Asdrubale Bitten by a Crawfish’ (1554).
  • FRAME #6: Portrait of the artist’s sister, Elena Anguissola, as a nun, oil on canvas (1551). 
  • FRAME #7: Three children with a dog, or Two Sisters and a Brother of the Artist, oil on canvas (c. 1570–1590).
  • FRAME #8: Portrait of Minerva Anguissola, sister of the artist, oil on canvas (c. 1564).

Room 2: SOFONISBA BY SOFONISBA

  • FRAME #9: Self-portrait at an Easel, oil on canvas (c.1556-1557). 
  • FRAME #10: Self-portrait, oil on pane (c.1550s)
  • FRAME #11: Miniature Self-portrait, oil paint on parchment (c.1556)
  • FRAME #12: Self-portrait at the spinet with her maid (almost certainly Cornelia Appiani), oil on canvas (c.1561).
  • FRAME #13: Self-Portrait at a Spinet (1577).
  • FRAME #14: Self-Portrait (c.1558).
  • FRAME #15: Self-portrait or the portrait of a relative by a different artist?

Room 3: SPANISH ROYAL COURT PORTRAITS

  • FRAME #16: Portrait of Prince Alessandro Farnese, oil on canvas (c. 1560).
  • FRAME #17: Portrait of Princess Joanna of Austria and a Young Girl, oil on canvas (1561).
  • FRAME #18: Portrait of Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia and Infanta Catherine Michaela with pets, oil on canvas (c. 1569-1570).
  • FRAME #19: Portrait of Isabel of Valois holding a portrait of Philip II, oil on canvas (c.1563).
  • FRAME #20: Portrait of a Lady or Self-portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola, oil on panel (c.1560).
  • FRAME #21: Portrait of a Boy at the Spanish Court, oil on canvas (c.1565-1570).
  • FRAME #22: Portrait of Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain, oil on canvas (c.1573).
  • FRAME #23: Portrait of Philip II of Spain, oil on canvas (created in 1565 and retouched in 1573).

2nd Floor

Room 4: THE ANGUISSOLA SISTERS & SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA’S LEGACY

  • FRAME #24: Lucia Anguissola, Self-portrait, oil on panel (1557).
  • FRAME #25: Lucia Anguissola, Portrait of a man believed to be Doctor Pietro Manna of Cremona, oil on canvas (1560).
  • FRAME #26: Europa Anguissola, Portrait of  Bianca Schinchinelli (the artist’s mother-in-law), oil on canvas (1571-1578).
  • FRAME #27: Lavinia Fontana, Self-Portrait at the Virginals with a Servant, oil on canvas (1577).

Room 5: TWO MYSTERIES

  • FRAMES #28 and #29: Portrait of Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola aka The Sienna Portrait, oil on canvas (c. 1559), before and after restoration.
  • FRAME #30: Portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola by Antoon van Dyck, oil on canvas (1624 or 1629).
  • FRAME #31: Detail of van Dyck's notebook with the sketch he made of Sofonisba Anguissola (1624 or 1629).

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I hope you'll enjoy discovering (or rediscovering) THE REMARKABLE ART AND LIFE OF SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA.


CAMIE REMBRANDT

HOUSE ANGUISSOLA, February 2025


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