Sofonisba Anguissola

Bibliography on early modern women artists, mainly in Italy and the Netherlands; a sporadic compilation of 45+ pages. Updated 29 April 2020. BUT see now my Bibliography_Premodern Women Artists (posted on 14 May 2020), which has expanded geographically and chronologically, to include medieval women, and female artists and patrons working in China, Japan and Islamic cultures.
AS OF 29 MAY 2020 THE BIBLIOGRAPHY IS NOW A GOOGLE DOC OF 130+ PAGES. IT IS OPEN ACCESS AND COMMENTS ARE WELCOME.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qciG2ndN2dOfg4KDgL9LwCOl8HUZP5liSKtwRcJ_Ah4/edit?usp=sharing

En un contexto que no favorecía el acceso femenino a los círculos intelectuales, el patronazgo artístico  permitió a las mujeres introducirse en la Alta Cultura del Renacimiento, promoviendo así una perspectiva  femenina que reflejaría su historia, estatus y sus propios intereses. Buen ejemplo de ello será Isabella d’Este. En el Renacimiento, un artista no era célebre por su gran “genius”, sino  por su “ingenium” superior. La presunta inferioridad artística de las mujeres no se debía, en principio, a la ausencia de genius, sino a su deficiente ingenium o falta de talento, juicio y habilidad. En el pensamiento de la época se destacaba que el hombre era  poseedor del juicio y el ingenium, y la mujer, por el contrario, se dejaba llevar demasiado por las emociones como  para llegar a convertirse en grandes artistas. Afortunadamente, a finales del  XVI, las mujeres comenzaron a ser más visibles, como consecuencia de su mayor independencia. Es el caso de Sofonisba Anguissola

The purpose of this essay is to present new documentary evidence concerning the years of the painter Sofonisba Anguissola at the Spanish court. These new findings shed some light about previously unknown aspects of the relationship between Sofonisba Anguissola and the future Grand Duke of Tuscany Francesco I de’ Medici during this latter’s stay at the Spanish court between 1562 and 1563, and allow to make new hypothesis on the provenance of her miniature self-portrait nowadays in the Galleria degli Uffizi of Florence.

Between roughly 1615 and 1622, Cristofano Bronzini
(1580–1633) wrote Della dignità et della nobiltà delle donne, a
defense of women that was partially published during his
lifetime with the patronage of Medici women. This article
brings to light the unpublished sections of Bronzini’s
manuscript containing descriptions of some thirty-three early
modern women artists, ranging from Properzia de’ Rossi to
the female court artists of the Ming Dynasty. At the focus
of this study is Bronzini’s profile of Artemisia Gentileschi,
offering a narrative account of the discovery of her artistic
talent at age twelve and detailing her earliest vocational
training in Rome up until the time of her marriage to
Pierantonio Stiattesi of Florence.
Artemisia’s profile in the Bronzini manuscript stands out
not only because it is the earliest biographical account ever
written about her, but also because it is rife with statements
that have no bearing upon the real facts of her life. It is
argued here that Artemisia herself supplied Bronzini with
this fictitious account and that she deliberately distorted the
facts of her youth in order to fashion herself according to
her own aspirations as well as her society’s morality codes,
its female stereotypes, and its mytho-heroic archetype of the
artist. In this account of Artemisia’s youth in Rome, the name
of Agostino Tassi and Artemisia’s relationship with him are
completely suppressed, while Artemisia’s own father, Orazio
Gentileschi, is portrayed in a negative light as her primary
antagonist. Moreover, the biography purports that Artemisia
taught herself to paint by studying Caravaggio’s canvases,
effectively asserting her place among the master’s earliest and
most devoted followers.

Fin dall'antichità la manifestazione visibile di emozioni è stata ritenuta sconveniente per persone di rango elevato, quali nobili, religiosi, dotti, oltre alle divinità. Già Platone nel IV secolo AC esprime contrarietà al rappresentare uomini importanti e divinità in preda al riso. I volti ritratti sono generalmente poco espressivi, con la bocca chiusa, i sentimenti dei personaggi possono essere desunti da altri elementi, quali la loro postura e il tema rappresentato, oltre che da una gestualità codificata come quella a cui fa ricorso Giotto. Solo bestie e creature mostruose o demoniache mostrano le loro fauci spalancate.

Nel '500 il concetto di decoro rinascimentale definisce il modo corretto e consono di rappresentare personaggi e situazioni, e subisce successivamente l'influenza delle posizioni ecclesiastiche emerse dal Concilio di Trento ed espresse in trattati come quello del Cardinale Gabriele Paleotti, in cui si disapprova l'esecuzione di raffigurazioni ridicole specie se a soggetto religioso, e viene esaltata la serena imperturbabilità dei martiri di fronte al supplizio.
Tuttavia il Rinascimento è anche un'epoca in cui l'approccio alla pittura diventa più scientifico, conformemente alla mentalità del tempo, dedita al recupero delle fonti storiche del passato alla luce delle scoperte e delle invenzioni più recenti, e in cui si applica la perfezione numerica e geometrica a tutte le arti. Non solo le architetture si conformano alle leggi della prospettiva, ma anche le persone vengono raffigurate secondo i principi dell'anatomia e della fisiognomica, discipline in cui fungerà da caposcuola Leonardo Da Vinci: le ossa vengono ricoperte di muscoli che guizzano sotto la pelle, e i volti si animano.

Gli artisti, in particolare in area lombarda, grazie anche proprio alla via aperta da Leonardo, cominciano a sperimentare nuovi soggetti, rappresentando situazioni in cui l'elemento principale che anima la scena è dato proprio dall'espressività del volto. Sempre in epoca rinascimentale ebbe grande fortuna un dipinto licenzioso quattrocentesco di Michelino da Besozzo raffigurante quattro popolani che ridono con un gatto, il quale fu reinterpretato da vari artisti dell'epoca, incluso un teorico della pittura come Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo, con l'inclusione di elementi leonardeschi.

Si tratta ancora però di una raffigurazione del sentimento espresso secondo canoni anatomici, che si manifesta con una precisa configurazione muscolare, mentre la capacità di raffigurare un sentimento vivo, colto nell'istante in cui si manifesta, arriverà grazie alla sensibilità femminile della prima pittrice di fama internazionale, Sofonisba Anguissola: il suo disegno Fanciullo morso da un gambero del 1554 circa, cattura l'istante del dolore, la nascita di un'emozione, ed ebbe fortuna immediata, influenzando grandi artisti del suo tempo, come Caravaggio, e direttamente o indirettamente altri di epoche successive. Si apre così la via al modo di intendere l'arte post-rinascimentale, quello delle Belle Arti, dove le arti non sono più espressione di una perfezione numerica, ma si nutriranno di affetti e sentimenti.

WONDER WOMEN: SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA, LAVINIA FONTANA AND ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE SELF-PORTRAIT PAINTING BY FEMALE ARTISTS

by Rosa Lena Reed Robinson

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Master of Arts in Art History at
Studio Art Centers International
Florence, Italy

2017


This  thesis is focused on the self-portrait painting practice by three female artists from the Renaissance and the Baroque periods: Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, and Artemisia Gentileschi. Chapter I introduces the self-portrait as it developed specific to the Renaissance and in relation to a Greco-Roman classical ideal. The chapter focuses on Renaissance concepts of art and the very role of the artist. Chapter II studies the numerous self-portraits of Sofonisba Anguissola, the first great Renaissance female artist to have an international career. The artist’s self-portraits both became a foundation for those of later female artists and self-consciously expressed the new elite status achieved by this Lombard artist of noble lineage who worked as court portraitist for the Spanish monarchy. Chapter III examines the self-portraits and innovative identity self-portraiture of Lavinia Fontana of Bologna. It is demonstrated how her two early self-portraits built on the precedent established by Sofonisba, and yet, are of somewhat greater iconographic complexity. While in her maturity the artist developed self-portraiture into the identity self-portrait through the subject of Judith and Holofernes. Within her treatments of the theme in some examples she put herself into the figure of Judith and in others into Judith’s maid Abra. Lavinia Fontana’s final masterpiece, the improbable painting Minerva Dressing done at the end of her extensive career was likewise arguably an identity self-portrait. Minerva Dressing constitutes the first female fully nude figure painted by a female artist. Chapter IV focuses on Artemisia Gentileschi. This thesis designates the artist’s Pommersfelden Susanna and the Elders as both Artemisia’s first exact self-portrait and the first female full-length nude self-portrait painted by a female artist. The work is also an identity self-portrait. This chapter continues with a discussion of both versions of Artemisia’s infamous Judith and Holofernes (Capodimonte/Uffizi). Both works are arguably exact self-portrait paintings and identity self-portraits. Artemisia’s Allegory of Painting in London, often referred to as a self-portrait in scholarship, is suggested a perhaps better understood as an ideal identity self-portrait rather than a literal self-representation. The Allegory of Painting is considered together with other attributed self-portraits and portraits of the artist. A major theme in Chapter IV is the transition from literal self-representation to allegorical and ideal portrayal of the self. This thesis suggests that, as the artist’s career advanced, Artemisia Gentileschi did continue to paint both the exact and the ideal self-portrait. Finally, in the Conclusion, the legacy of the self-portraits of the Wonder Women, to adopt a phrase from Giorgio Vasari, is considered in reference to future female artists such as Elisabetta Sirani, Angelica Kauffmann, Elisabeth Vigée Le-Brun and Paula Modersohn-Becker.

Nel 1655 moriva a Roma il cardinal Francesco Peretti, l’ultimo discendente maschile della famiglia Montalto. In quell’occasione, l’incredibile collezione d’arte messa insieme dalla famiglia tra il 1580 e il 1655, che comprendeva oltre 400 dipinti, altrettante statue antiche e moderne e numerosi disegni, passava per via testamentaria all’abate Paolo Savelli Peretti, figlio della sorella di Francesco. Quest’ultimo, morto nel 1685, trasmise la collezione al fratello, il principe Giulio Savelli, il quale, per gli ingenti debiti accumulati dalla famiglia, fu costretto dalla Congregazione de Baroni a subastare, nel 1696, numerosi beni di provenienza Peretti, tra cui l’immenso complesso della Villa o Vigna Montalto di Termini, purtroppo oggi non più esistente poiché distrutto nel XIX secolo per la realizzazione della stazione ferroviaria centrale di Roma.
Partendo dal 1655, l’autore ripercorre le varie tappe relative alla dispersione della collezione Montalto, giungendo fino al XIX secolo.
Nell’articolo emergono alcune nuove proposte identificative di oggetti d’arte provenienti dall’illustre raccolta, tra cui alcuni dipinti del Cavalier d’Arpino, di Sofonisba Anguissola, di Luca Cambiaso, del Guercino ed un gruppo di sculture in bronzo di Giambologna e di Antonio Susini. L’autore pubblica inoltre l’inedito inventario della subasta del 1696, in cui vengono descritte le opere che all’epoca erano conservate nel complesso della Villa Montalto.


«Pure ed il nome, e le ricchezze, e le grandezze svanirono come il fumo …». The dispersal of the Peretti Montalto Collection: new proposals and an unpublished inventory of 1696

Cardinal Francesco Peretti, last male descendant of the Montalto family, died in Rome in 1655. Thereupon the incredible collection of art assembled by the family between 1580 and 1655, which comprised over 400 paintings, as many ancient and modern statues and a large corpus of drawings, passed by inheritance to the abate Paolo Savelli Peretti, son of Francesco’s sister. He died in turn in 1685, bequeathing the collection to his brother, Prince Giulio Savelli, who, as a result of the huge debts accumulated by the family, was forced by the Congregazione de’ Baroni to auction off numerous properties of Peretti provenance in 1696, including the huge complex of the Villa or Vigna Montalto di Termini, which unfortunately no longer exists, since destroyed in the nineteenth century to make way for Rome’s central railway station (Termini).
The author traces the various stages in the dispersal of the Montalto collection from 1655 to the nineteenth century. He also makes some new proposals for the identification of works of art from the famous collection, including paintings by the Cavalier d’Arpino, Sofonisba Anguissola, Luca Cambiaso, Guercino and a group of bronze sculptures by Giambologna and Antonio Susini. The author also publishes for the first time the inventory of the auction held in 1696, in which the works of art then preserved in the Villa Montalto complex are described.

Quaderno n. 11 –– Conferenze del 2008, stampato per conto del Circolo da Legatoria Manna, Rende (CS), 2009 –– Sommario: (1) TOMASI Giovanni, Zulu 1879 pp. 3-12; (2) GUSSO Massimo, La fine del Califfato Ottomano (1923-24) pp. 13-33; (3) IMPERIO Loredana, Sofonisba Anguissola, pittore alla corte di Filippo II di Spagna pp. 34-60; (4) IMPERIO Loredana, Veronica Franco. Una cortigiana e poetessa nella Venezia del Cinquecento pp. 61-82; (5) ZOCCOLETTO Giorgio, Dopo Lepanto. Don Giovanni D'Austria nell'impresa di Tunisi pp. 83-103; (6) CADEDDU Lorenzo, Il 1918. La conclusione del conflitto pp. 104-130; (7) GUSSO Massimo, L'elezione del Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America pp. 131-144

Not yet available.

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Online-Ringvorlesung:
“Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Ein Perspektivwechsel nach 50 Jahren

Ab 20. Oktober 2021 immer mittwochs, 12-14 Uhr c.t. Veranstaltet von Prof. Dr. Birgit Ulrike Münch (Universität Bonn) und Prof. Dr. Christoph Wagner (Universität Regensburg)

Online-Ringvorlesung:  “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Ein Perspektivwechsel nach 50 Jahren
1971 veröffentliche Linda Nochlin ihren programmatischen Aufsatz, der als Beginn einer feministischen Kunstgeschichtsforschung gilt. Zur Beantwortung ihrer Frage „Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?“ analysiert Nochlin die institutionellen und systemischen Konstrukte, die von Männern gebildet und geprägt worden sind.
Noch immer haben Künstlerinnen ihren Platz nicht in gleicher Weise in einer Kunstgeschichtsschreibung gefunden wie ihre männlichen Kollegen. Von diesen wurden sie bestenfalls als Muse, Ehegattin oder Modell verehrt oder abschätzig als „Malweiber” tituliert. Die spezifischen Produktionsformen, künstlerischen Konzepte und Strategien von Künstlerinnen fanden nur zögerlich Beachtung und Anerkennung.
50 Jahre nach Nochlins Aufsatz werden in der Ringvorlesung die Narrative und systemischen Strukturen in der Kunstgeschichtsschreibung untersucht sowie exemplarische Künstlerinnen und ihre Position in der Kunstgeschichtsschreibung kritisch analysiert.

Relying on primary source documents, Cecilia Gamberini outlines the reality of
Sofonisba Anguissola’s experiences in the household of Queen Isabel of Valois following
the artist’s appointment to the Spanish court in 1559. Anguissola’s position
is generally credited to her two roles there: painter and lady-in-waiting. The author
argues that while Anguissola’s appointment was due in part to her remarkable
painted self-representations, it was also facilitated by a largely overlooked network
of familial contacts and the political climate of the time. Analyses of Anguissola’s
behaviour in the Queen’s Household also offfers a glimpse into the young woman’s
personality, which wasat times irreverent and rebellious, and the opportunity
for new attributions.

Abstract. The purpose of the monograph section. On the basis of anthropocentric approach to the analysis of visual self-presentations of Italian women artists of the Renaissance and Baroque period fill in the gaps that exist in domestic art history regarding the works of Plautilla Nelli, Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Marietta Robusti, Artemisia Gentileschi, Arcangela Paladini, Giovanna Garzoni, Elisabetta Sirani and the sculptor Properzia de’ Rossi.

Theoretical basis. The principles and methods of philosophical and anthropological research in combination with biographical, historical, comparative, iconographic and figurative and stylistic methods were used in writing the monograph.

The scientific novelty lies in the author's method of analyzing works of visual art from the point of view of anthropocentric approach, as well as in considering the creativity of women artists of Renaissance and Baroque period in Italy as their self-objectifications, which give rise to a new cultural reality.

Conclusions. Creativity by Italian women artists Plautilla Nelli, Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Marietta Robusti, Artemisia Gentileschi, Arcangela Paladini, Giovanna Garzoni, Elisabetta Sirani and the sculptor Properzia de’ Rossi in diachronic view can be expanded. During 16th–17th centuries, several talented female painters and one female sculptor worked in Italian fine arts. Against the background of the cultural realities of the time, this phenomenon can be considered an indicator of paradigmatic changes in the public consciousness in relation to the social significance of talented women.

Keywords: Women artists, Renaissance, Baroque, Italy, early modern period, Italian culture, Plautilla Nelli, Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Marietta Robusti, Artemisia Gentileschi, Arcangela Paladini, Giovanna Garzoni, Elisabetta Sirani, Properzia de’ Rossi, female, artist, painter, sculptor, woman, painting, sculpture, museum, art gallery, exhibition, self-objectification of the artist, visual self-presentation in the works of painting, anthropocentric approach, cultural studies, discourse.

For citation:
Goncharova Olena. Women Artists of the Renaissance and Baroque period in Italy: Cultural studies discourse. Integration of traditional and innovation processes of development of modern science: collective monograph. Riga, Latvia; “Baltija Publishing”, 2020. pp. 230-280.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30525/978-9934-26-021-6-13
http://www.baltijapublishing.lv/omp/index.php/bp/catalog/view/86/2238/4826-1

Olena M. Goncharova,
Doctor of Science in Cultural Studies, Professor,
Professor of Museum Studies and Examination of Historical and Cultural Values Department,
Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts.
Ukraine, Kyiv, 01601, E. Konovalets Str., 36.
ORCID. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8649-9361
Researcher ID: F-6473-2015
Scopus ID 57217102458   
o.m_goncharova@yahoo.com

In the past thirty years historians have retrieved Sofonisba Anguissola from the anonymity into which she had fallen. During this time Sofonisba has been the subject of numerous publications, many of which focused on a feminist interpretation of her character rather than an examination of her life as an accomplished painter and a noblewoman.
In her lifetime, Sofonisba’s reputation extended beyond Cremona, into the European courts of the XVI century, and primarily at the court of Philip II. This paper proposes an excursus through her most significant historiographies to review aspects of Sofonisba's life at the Spanish court, comparing and contrasting archival documentation with a range of published perspectives about her role.

Abstract. The purpose of the monograph section. On the basis of anthropocentric approach to the analysis of visual self-presentations of Italian women artists of the Renaissance and Baroque period fill in the gaps that exist in domestic art history regarding the works of Plautilla Nelli, Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Marietta Robusti, Artemisia Gentileschi, Arcangela Paladini, Giovanna Garzoni, Elisabetta Sirani and the sculptor Properzia de’ Rossi.

Theoretical basis. The principles and methods of philosophical and anthropological research in combination with biographical, historical, comparative, iconographic and figurative and stylistic methods were used in writing the monograph.

The scientific novelty lies in the author's method of analyzing works of visual art from the point of view of anthropocentric approach, as well as in considering the creativity of women artists of Renaissance and Baroque period in Italy as their self-objectifications, which give rise to a new cultural reality.

Conclusions. Creativity by Italian women artists Plautilla Nelli, Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Marietta Robusti, Artemisia Gentileschi, Arcangela Paladini, Giovanna Garzoni, Elisabetta Sirani and the sculptor Properzia de’ Rossi in diachronic view can be expanded. During 16th–17th centuries, several talented female painters and one female sculptor worked in Italian fine arts. Against the background of the cultural realities of the time, this phenomenon can be considered an indicator of paradigmatic changes in the public consciousness in relation to the social significance of talented women.

Keywords: Women artists, Renaissance, Baroque, Italy, early modern period, Italian culture, Plautilla Nelli, Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Marietta Robusti, Artemisia Gentileschi, Arcangela Paladini, Giovanna Garzoni, Elisabetta Sirani, Properzia de’ Rossi, female, artist, painter, sculptor, woman, painting, sculpture, museum, art gallery, exhibition, self-objectification of the artist, visual self-presentation in the works of painting, anthropocentric approach, cultural studies, discourse.

For citation:
Goncharova Olena.  Women artists of the Renaissance and Baroque period in Italy: Cultural studies discourse. Integration of traditional and innovation processes of development of modern science: collective monograph. Riga, Latvia; “Baltija Publishing”, 2020. pp. 230-280.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30525/978-9934-26-021-6-13 http://www.baltijapublishing.lv/omp/index.php/bp/catalog/view/86/2238/4826-1

Olena M. Goncharova,
Doctor of Science in Cultural Studies, Professor,
Professor of Museum Studies and Examination of Historical and Cultural Values Department,
Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts.
Ukraine, Kyiv, 01601, E. Konovalets Str., 36.
ORCID. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8649-9361
Researcher ID: F-6473-2015
Scopus ID 57217102458   
o.m_goncharova@yahoo.com

This paper focuses on the decoration of the Alcazar palace in Madrid during the reign of Philip II of Spain, concentrating on the king's portrait collection and other pictorial cycles deployed to decorate principal reception rooms and the queen's quarters.

Also discussed is the portrait of Infante Carlos by Sofonisba Anguissola, created for the heir and prince before his untimely death in 1568. Several copies and relics of this portrait of the prince wearing a lynx fur coat (bohemia) were made by Alonso Sánchez Coello and his workshop. One version today in the former royal palace in Sintra was identified by the author as a work after Sofonisba Anguissola and produced in Sánchez Coello's workshop, is published here for the first time.

Exhibition Review

Two Women Painters from the Late Renaissance
BY ANNEMARIE JORDAN GSCHWEND

A Tale of Two Women Painters. Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana (Museo del Prado, Madrid,  October – February ). Catalogue: Leticia Ruiz Gómez (Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, ),  pp. incl.  col. + b. & w. ills, €..

A partir de mediados del siglo XVI, la figura de la mujer pintora aparece en la escena artística italiana. Casi todas son hijas de artistas, con la excepción del caso peculiar de Sofonisba Anguissola, que se inspiraron en las pintoras flamencas, las cuales ya habían abierto este camino.
Además de las virtudes domésticas, ahora las mujeres debían adquirir un bagaje cultural que también incluía saber pintar. Todas estas facultades nunca dejaron de despertar asombro en la sociedad de la época, que requería, en voz alta, su presentación como mujeres a través del autorretrato. De hecho para ser aceptadas en los ambientes cultos de la época, era necesaria la creación de una imagen que tuviese ciertas características que permitieran ser apreciadas por el público.
Este ensayo propone un recorrido a través de mujeres artistas como Catherina Van Hemessen, Lavinia Fontana, Sofonisba Anguissola, Artemisia Gentileschi, Elisabetta Sirani y Clara Peeters para analizar el papel del autorretrato en los siglo XVI y XVII. Estas pintoras descubren y eligen diferentes formas de representarse y a pesar de vivir en un mundo dominado por los hombres, consiguen obtener un reconocimiento social.

Relying on primary source documents, Cecilia Gamberini outlines the reality of Sofonisba Anguissola’s experiences in the Household of Queen Isabel of Valois following the artist’s appointment to the Spanish court in 1559. Anguissola’s position is generally credited to her two roles there: painter and lady-in-waiting. The author argues that while Anguissola’s appointment was due in part to her remarkable painted self-representations, it was also facilitated by a largely overlooked network of familial contacts and the political climate of the time. Analyses of Anguissola’s behaviour in the Queen’s Household also offers a glimpse into the young woman’s personality, which was at times irreverent and rebellious, and the opportunity for new attributions.

Forte di una minuziosa ricerca storica e di una narrazione avvincente, l'autrice racconta le vicende di due personaggi contemporanei: Giulio Pallavicino, membro di una nobile famiglia genovese imparentata coi Doria, e quelle rocambolesche di Dominico Bertoni, un prete poeta e criminale. Ma la vera protagonista è proprio la città di Genova, che vive une stagione unica a cavallo tra Cinque e Seicento di cui conosceremo fatti, luoghi e tanti personaggi che vi hanno abitato e transitato: nobili, letterati, ecclesiastici e criminali, ma anche grandi artisti come Sofonisba Anguissola, Rubens, Caravaggio e Van Dyck.

TITOLO: LOS ANGUISSOLA Y ESPAÑA

El objetivo de mi intervención en este seminario será describir a los estudiosos en la materia el ámbito histórico en el que se movieron los diferentes personajes de la familia Anguissola y cómo se articularon las relaciones entre aquellos que residieron en los territorios de la Lombardía y la corte española. A este respecto, el tema es uno de los menos conocidos, dado que la historiografía del arte se ha detenido en el papel de Sofonisba como pintora y dama de la reina Isabel de Valois, obviando el contexto político, social y cultural en el que se tejieron sus relaciones. Se describirá cómo se ha articulado la historia de la familia Anguissola y las diferentes ramas de la dinastía, así como el modo en el que se relacionaron, a través de matrimonios, alianzas políticas y otros aspectos, con los linajes más relevantes de diferentes cortes en la península italiana. Uno de los objetivos, en este sentido, tal y como analizaremos, será describir el posicionamiento de los Anguissola como una saga de la alta nobleza. La documentación manuscrita conservada en diferentes archivos ha posibilitado la reconstrucción del árbol genealógico de la familia, que se describirá con diferentes ejemplos, y cómo diferentes miembros entroncaron con representantes de las cortes italianas y españolas. Se pondrá evidencia, con material de archivo, cómo la llegada de la pintora de Cremona a la corte española no fue casual y, tampoco, estuvo sola en este contexto, dado que diferentes hombres y mujeres, estrechamente relacionadas con ella y su entorno familiar, vehicularon su llegada a la corte de Felipe II.

This essay analyses and reconstructs the decoration of the Alcazar palace during the reign of Philip II of Spain, by concentrating on his portrait collection deployed to hang in principal reception rooms and the queen's quarters of this palace.

Also taken into account are important Flemish tapestry cycles and art works, tapestries, paintings and portraits Philip II brought back to Spain, taken from the Lisbon royal palace after his residency there between 1580 and 1583.

Equally taken into consideration in this paper, is an unknown portrait of the Infante Carlos executed before his untimely death in 1568 by Sofonsiba Anguissola. 5 replicas of this portrait showing the prince wearing a lynx jacket (known as a bohemia) were made by Alonso Sánchez Coello and his workshop as gifts presented by Carlos to favourite courtiers. The author identities for the first time a Sánchez Coello replica of Infante Carlos hanging today in the former royal palace in Sintra, which until 1998 had remained unattributed and the sitter unknown.

Si se repasan las fotografías publicadas en los manuales y monografías de Historia de la Moda existentes en el mercado, es fácil darse cuenta que, como pasaba hasta hace poco en los tratados de Historia del Arte, no se tienen en cuenta las imágenes producidas por mujeres. No obstante desde el siglo XVI contamos con retratos y autorretratos realizados por pintoras que, al igual que ocurre con las de muchos maestros del pasado, son muy útiles para estudiar los usos del vestir de épocas anteriores. Las mujeres, debido a multitud de motivos que tienen sus orígenes en aspectos socioculturales, nos hemos relacionado de manera muy especial con nuestro vestuario, concediéndole una gran relevancia o, por el contrario, escatimándole importancia. Esta circunstancia se refleja en el autorretrato femenino, en el cual numerosas autoras han empleado la indumentaria y sus complementos con múltiples significados distintos, ejecutando complejos entramados iconográficos y simbólicos que tienen en faldas y blusas, peinados y sombreros, collares y brazaletes, los signos privilegiados de un lenguaje tan antiguo como femenino.