Portrait Group with the Artist’s Father Amilcare Anguissola, Brother Astrubale and Sister Minerva by Sofonisba Anguissola - Ca. 1559 - 157 x 122 cm Europeana Portrait Group with the Artist’s Father Amilcare Anguissola, Brother Astrubale and Sister Minerva by Sofonisba Anguissola - Ca. 1559 - 157 x 122 cm Europeana

Portrait Group with the Artist’s Father Amilcare Anguissola, Brother Astrubale and Sister Minerva

oil on canvas • 157 x 122 cm
  • Sofonisba Anguissola - c. 1532 - November 16, 1625 Sofonisba Anguissola Ca. 1559

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This artwork is featured as a part of our celebration of Women’s History Month, together with Europeana, Europe’s platform for cultural heritage. To learn more about remarkable European women in the arts, sciences, and society, visit the online exhibition Pioneers. Today's painting belongs to the collection of Nivaagaards Malerisamling.

Sofonisba Anguissola was one of the first female artists internationally recognized and shaped the perspectives of other women in the arts of following generations. Born in Renaissance Italy around 1532, she was the daughter of a noble family. Her parents believed in the advantages of education and provided each of their six daughters with a thorough education, compared to other girls in that period. Each of the girls was supposed to develop her individual talents. At that time, professional painting was highly uncommon for women. Still, Sofonisba soon became famous for her portraits of her family.

Sensitivity, warmth, and mutual tenderness permeate this family portrait depicting the artist’s father Amilcare, brother Asdrubale, and sister Minerva. The family relationship is weighted higher than the figurative and formal characteristics. The spontaneously expressive and immediate character of a number of her portraits would later inspire an artist like Caravaggio. The painting was never finished, because King Philip II of Spain offered Sofonisba the position of court painter. She worked at the Spanish court for twenty years. The painting is considered one of the artist’s masterpieces.

P.S. Here you can read a short story about Sofonisba Anguissola's life and work.