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Portrait of a Young Patrician Woman

Sofonisba Anguissola

Basic information

ID: Ж-821
Author: Sofonisba Anguissola
Name: Portrait of a Young Patrician Woman
Date of creation: 1558
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions: 115 x 92 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture
Plot: Portrait
Provenance: the Lubomirski collection

Information about author

Author: Sofonisba Anguissola
Artist's lifetime: 1532–1625
Country: Italy
Biography: Sofonisba Anguissola (1532–1625) was an Italian painter of the late Renaissance and Mannerism periods. She was born in Cremona (Lombardy). Her sisters were also painters. In Rome, after meeting Michelangelo, she earned the maestro's respect for her talent. In 1558, she painted a portrait of the Duke of Alba in Milan. It earned her recommendations to work at the Spanish court. Philip II's wife, Queen Elisabeth of Valois, invited Anguissola to be her drawing tutor and granted her the title of lady-in-waiting. Anguissola served as a court painter for the Spanish royal family for 14 years.

Object description

The painting depicts a woman whose identity remains a mystery, though she is undoubtedly an aristocrat. The portrait is official, yet it does not represent the subject's character. Her posture and the elegant dress of 16th-century fashion emphasise the woman's appearance. This work does not belong to the intimate portrait characteristic of the artist's Italian period. However, it can be classified among the best works by the author. The painting is dated 1558, and it was created shortly before Sofonisba's departure to Spain when her painting style had reached maturity and creative freedom.

Inscriptions

Top left, a signature and date: "Sofonisba Anguisciola MDLVIII".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Portrait of a Young Patrician Woman

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