SOFONISBA ANGUISCIOLA
was born in Cremona, some time between 1530 and 1540, being descended from a family of high rank. At ten years of age she knew how to draw, and she soon became the best pupil of Bernadino Campi, an excellent Cremonese painter. One of her early sketches, representing a boy with his hand caught in a lobster’s claw, and a little girl laughing at his plight, was in the possession of Vasari, and esteemed by him worthy of a place in a volume which he had filled with drawings by the most famous masters of that great age. Portraits became her favorite study. Vasari commends a picture he saw at her father’s, representing three of the sisters and an ancient housekeeper, chess-playing, as a work “painted with so much skill and care that the figures wanted only voice to be alive.” He also praises a portrait of herself, which she presented to Pope Julius III.
Sofonisba instructed her four younger sisters in painting. While yet in her girlhood she attracted the notice of princes. She accompanied her father to Milan, at that time subject to Spanish rule. There she was received at court with welcome, and painted the portrait of the Duke of Sessa, the viceroy, who rewarded her with four pieces of brocade, and other rich gifts. By 1559 her name had become famous throughout Italy. The haughty monarch of Spain, Philip II., who aspired to the title of patron of the fine arts, heard the echo of her renown, and sent instructions to the Duke of Alba, then at Rome, to invite her to the Court of Madrid. The invitation was accepted. Sofonisba was conducted to the Spanish court with regal pomp, having a train of two patrician ladies as maids of honor, two chamberlains, and six livery servants. Philip and his queen came out to meet her, and she was sumptuously entertained in the palace. After a time given to repose, she painted the king’s portrait, which so pleased him that he rewarded her with a diamond worth fifteen hundred crowns, and a pension of two hundred. Her next sitters were the young queen, Elizabeth of Valois—known as Isabel of the Peace—then in the bloom of her bridal loveliness; and the unhappy boy Don Carlos, who was taken dressed in a lynx-skin and other costly raiment. One after another she painted the flower of the Spanish nobility. Meanwhile she received high honors and profitable appointments from her royal patrons.
Her extended fame induced Pope Pius IV. to ask her for a portrait of the queen. She executed the commission with alacrity; and, having bestowed her best care on a second portrait of her majesty, she dispatched it to Rome, with a letter, to be presented to His Holiness. “If it were possible,” she says, “to represent to your Holiness the beauty of this queen’s soul, you could behold nothing more wonderful.” The Pope responded with precious stones and relics set in gems; gifts worthy of the great abilities of the artist. His letter may interest the reader:
“We have received the portrait of the most illustrious Queen of Spain, our dear daughter, which you have sent us, and which has been most acceptable, as well on account of the person represented, whom we love paternally for her piety and the many pure qualities of her mind, to say nothing of other considerations, as because the work has by your hand been very well and diligently accomplished.
“We thank you for it, assuring you that we shall hold it among our most valued possessions, commended through your skill, which, albeit very wonderful, is nevertheless, as we hear, the very least among the many gifts with which you are endowed.
“And with this conclusion, we send you again our benediction. May our Lord have you in His keeping!
“Dat. Romæ: die 15 Ottobris, 1561.”
Sofonisba’s paintings were noted for boldness and freedom; and in some pieces her figures almost seemed to breathe. Some are comic; and this branch of art, in painting as in literature, demands boldness of conception, spontaneity of movement, and delicacy of touch. One of these works represents a wrinkled old woman learning the alphabet, and a little child making fun of her behind her back.
During her residence in Spain Sofonisba received from Cremona the portrait of her mother, Bianca, painted by her sister Europa. It was highly praised by Castilian critics, and the sister prized it as a faithful likeness of a beloved one whom she might never again behold. About this time Lucia may have sent her admirable portrait of Pietro Maria, a Cremonese physician—a grave and elderly personage in a furred robe—which now adorns the queen’s gallery in Madrid, the sole specimen of the powers of the gifted sisters.
Sofonisba had for some time been lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Spain: she was now appointed by Philip, with other ladies, to undertake the education of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia. This proves her to have been in Spain after 1566, the year in which that princess was born. Her royal patrons wished her to marry a Spanish nobleman and take up her permanent abode near their court; but her hand was already pledged to the feudal lord of Sicily, Don Fabrizio de Monçada, and he bore her away to his island home. The king and queen gave her a dowry of twelve thousand crowns and a pension of one thousand; which she had power to bequeath to her son; besides rich presents in tapestry and jewels, and a dress loaded with pearls.
The newly-wedded pair went to Palermo, where after a few years the husband died. Sofonisba was immediately invited back to the court of Madrid, but expressed a desire to see Cremona and her kindred before her return to Spain. She embarked on board a Genoese galley, commanded by a patrician called Orazio Lomellini. He entertained the fair widow with gallant courtesy during the voyage, and she appears to have been not inconsolable for the loss of her husband. She loved the Genoese, it is said, out of sheer gratitude; although her biographer, Soprani, does not hesitate to say that she made him an offer of her hand, which he—“quel generoso signor”—very promptly accepted. The Lomellini family still preserve her portrait, painted by herself after the manner of Raphael.
We now find her living at Genoa, where she pursued her art with indefatigable zeal. Her house became the resort of all the polished and intellectual society of the republic. Nor was she forgotten by her royal friends of the house of Austria. On hearing of her second nuptials, their Catholic majesties added four hundred crowns to her pension. The Empress of Germany paid her a visit on her way to Spain, and accepted a little picture, one of the most finished and beautiful of Sofonisba’s works. She also received the honor of a visit from her former charge, the Infanta, now married or about to be married to the Archduke Albert, and joint sovereign with him over Flanders. This princess spent several hours talking with her friend of old times and family affairs; and sat for her portrait, for which, when it was finished, she gave Sofonisba a gold chain enriched with jewels. This pretty memorial of friendship was greatly prized by the artist. Thus caressed by royalty, and courted in Genoese society, she lived to an extreme old age. A medallion was struck at Bologna in honor of her; the most distinguished artists listened reverentially to her opinions, and poets sang the praises of
“La bella e saggia dipintrice,
La nobil Sofonisba da Cremona.”
In the latter years of her life Sofonisba was deprived of her sight; but retained her intellectual faculties, her love of art, and her relish for the society of its professors. The conferences she held in her own palace were attended to the last by distinguished painters from every quarter. Vandyck was frequently her guest, and was accustomed to say he had received more enlightenment from this blind old woman than from all his studies of the greatest masters. This was no mean praise from the favorite scholar of Rubens; and who shall say it was not deserved? By precept and by example she helped to raise art in Genoa from the decay into which it had fallen in the middle of the sixteenth century. Her pictures have something of the grace and cheerfulness of Raphael, in whose style her first master painted, and something of the relief of the followers of Correggio. “More than any other woman of her time,” writes Vasari, “with more study and greater grace, she has labored on every thing connected with drawing; not only has she drawn, colored, and painted from life, and made excellent copies, but she has also drawn many beautiful original pictures.”
One of Sofonisba’s works, seen at Cremona in 1824, was a beautiful picture of the Virgin giving suck to the Divine infant. In portraits her skill is said to have been little inferior to Titian. Her charming portrait of herself is no mean gem among the treasures of the galleries and libraries at Althorp. She has drawn herself in what the Germans term a “knee-piece;” rather under life-size. The small and finely-formed head is well set on a graceful neck; the dark hair is smoothly and simply dressed; the features are Italian and regular; the complexion is a clear olive; and the eyes are large, black, and liquid. The dark, close-fitting dress is relieved by white frills at the throat and wrists, and two white tassels hanging over the breast. Her delicate and exquisitely painted hands are seen over the chords of a spinet. On the right, in deep shadow, stands an old woman, wearing a kerchief twisted turbanwise around her head, and resembling a St. Elizabeth or a St. Anne in a religious composition of the Caracci. The whole is painted in the clear, firm manner of the best pencils of Florence. Sofonisba died in 1620.
Palomino mentions Sofonisba Gentilesca among the foreign painters of the reign of Philip II.: “a lady illustrious in the art,” who came from France to Spain in the train of Isabel of the Peace. She painted miniatures with great skill, and had for sitters their majesties, the Infant Don Carlos, and many ladies of the court. She died at Madrid in 1587.
Another noble lady, Caterina Cantoni, known as an excellent engraver, was invited into Spain with Sofonisba, to pursue there the calling she seems to have practiced with success in Italy. Ludovica Pellegrini was complimented with the title of the “second Minerva” for her excellence in this branch of art. She also devoted herself to needle-work, and embroidered sacred furniture, and the great pallium (vestment), exhibited to strangers as a curious specimen of art and learning. Boschini mentions “the unrivaled Dorothea Aromatari” as having produced with her needle those beauties the finest artists executed with the pencil. Other women were celebrated embroiderers. Naples boasted of one who surpassed her contemporaries both in painting and music—Maria Angela Criscuolo. Cecilia Brusasorci, the daughter of the great fresco painter, became celebrated for her portraits toward the close of this century.
Passing over a number of minor names, we may close the review of this period by a notice of Caterina de’ Pazzi. She was born in 1566, and retired early to a convent, where she assumed the name of Maria Maddalena. The energy with which she cultivated art, and the peculiar character of her works and those of others produced at this time, show the infusion of a new element of religious enthusiasm into art. Tradition preserves the story of this nun painting sacred pictures with her eyes closed. In the cloisters of the Carmelites at Parma, and in the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, at Rome, works of hers may be found. Dying in 1607, she was canonized by Clement IX. in 1669; and at this day a picture in one of the richest churches of Florence bears the name of the saintly artist, whose body reposes in a magnificent chapel under the same roof.
No other nation, during the sixteenth century, can compete with Italy in female artists. In France women enjoyed great influence in public affairs, and several ladies of the highest rank were distinguished for their literary productions and accomplishments. Isabella Quatrepomme is mentioned by Papillon as an excellent engraver on wood. She was born in Rouen, and flourished about 1521. A frontispiece in an old calendar, executed in neat style, representing a figure of Janus, is supposed to be by her, as it is marked with an apple on which there is a figure 4.
In Spain the flowers of art began to bloom at a later period; although in the liberal studies women were not behindhand. Isabella Losa, of Cordova, was appointed a doctor of theology, and there were ladies in Valencia, who, familiar with the works of Italian masters of art, made it their study to imitate them.
In the north the advance of Protestantism wrought a change in the condition of women, which had its influence on art. Domestic employments, and the domestic virtues, became more universally the delight and study of the fair sex. While the light of religious truth was penetrating their homes with its softened radiance, the growth of a deep moral feeling was preparing the way for farther triumphs in the imitative arts. England, where flourished many poetesses, had one female painter—Lewina Tirlinks—during the reign of Elizabeth. Germany boasted of Catherine Schwartz, the wife, probably, of that Christopher Schwartz whom his contemporaries called the German Raphael; while in Switzerland Eva von Iberg transferred to canvas the beauties of her country’s scenery.
In the Netherlands, on the other hand, the number of women painters at this period was large, and many were the diligent successors of Margaretta von Eyck in her native place. Her brothers, at the head of the old Flemish school, showed the combination of traditional types and ancient habits with the results of the struggles of the human mind for emancipation in this century. Antwerp seems to have been a rich soil for the production of female talent. Here, in 1521, Albrecht Durer became acquainted with the fair painter so honorably mentioned in his journal. “Master Gerard, illuminist,” he says, “has a daughter eighteen years of age, named Susannah, who illuminated a little book which I purchased for a few guilders. It is wonderful that a woman can do so much!” Among noted miniature painters we hear of Catherine Hämsen, who went into Spain, and entered the service of the Queen of Hungary on a good salary; also of Anna Seghers; Anna Smyters, and Margaret de Heere. Clara de Keyzer, or Clara Skeysers, of Ghent, died unmarried at the age of eighty. She enjoyed a celebrity that extended to Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, all which countries were visited by her.
Susannah Hurembout and Liewina Bennings, or Benic, should not be passed over. The latter, the daughter of “Maestro Simon,” was born in Bruges; was invited to London by Henry VIII., and was treated with great favor by both queens Mary and Elizabeth. King Henry gave her in marriage to an English nobleman. It has been thought she is the same person with Lewina Tirlinks. Susannah also received an invitation from “bluff King Harry” to visit his court, and lived in England, where she was treated with great distinction, for the remainder of her life. Both these women were miniature painters. Barbara Van den Broeck, the daughter of Crispin, was born in Antwerp, 1560, and engraved from her father’s designs. She handled the graver with consummate skill. In some pieces, she imitated successfully the style of Martin Rota.
In Holland, Magdalen de Passe was known as an engraver in copper, and Constantia von Utrecht as a flower-painter; one who first acquired distinction in this delicate and feminine branch of study, and directed to it the attention of her country-women. In later times the city where she lived and wrought became the capital of the world in this species of painting.
CHAPTER V.
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
New Ground presented for Progress.—Greater Diversity of Style.—Naturalism.—The Caracci instrumental in giving to Painting the Impetus of Reform.—Their Academy.—One opened by a Milanese Lady.—The learned Poetess and her hundredth Birthday.—Female Painters and Engravers.—Lavinia Fontana.—The hasty Judgment.—Lavinia a Pupil of Caracci.—Character of her Pictures.—Honors paid to her.—Courted by Royalty.—Her Beauty and Suitors.—A romantic Lover.—Lavinia’s Paintings.—Close of the Period of the Christian Ideal in Art.—Lavinia’s Chef-d’Œuvre.—Her Children.—Professional Honors.—Her Death.—Female Disciples of the Caracci School.—Pupils of Domenichino, Lanfranco, and Guido Reni.—The churlish Guercino a Despiser of Women.—The Cardinal’s Niece and Heiress.—Her great Paintings.—Founds a Cloister.—Artemisia Gentileschi, a Pupil of Guido.—Her Portraits.—Visit to England.—Favor with Charles I.—Luxurious Abode in Naples.—Her Correspondence.—Judgment of her Pictures.—Elisabetta Sirani.—Her artistic Character.—Her household Life.—Industry and Modesty.—Her Virtues and Graces.—Envious Artists.—Defeat of Calumny.—Her mysterious Fate.—Conjectures respecting it.—Funeral Obsequies.—Her principal Works.—Her Influence on female Artists.—Her Pupils.—Other Women Artists of Bologna.
In the seventeenth century the elements of disturbance had in part subsided, and new ground was presented for the progress of human intellect. A certain uniformity in art, which was the consequence of a close academical imitation of the old masters, gave place to a greater diversity of style, and, in some instances, to a vigorous and somewhat rude naturalism. The Naturalisti were so called on account of their predilection for the direct imitation of the common forms and aspects of nature. Passion was their inspiration, and their imitation was too often carried to excess, presenting what might be termed the poetry of the repulsive.
A new spirit of inquiry and a feeling of self-reliance had entered the popular mind that did not fail to influence the progress both of literature and art. The masters who were most strikingly instrumental in giving to painting the impetus of reform were Ludovico, Augustin, and Annibal Caracci. Amid many difficulties they opened an academy in their native city, Bologna, where art was taught on the principles then esteemed essential. In its theoretical and practical departments a goodly number of students were there permitted to profit by the works of the early masters. The good example was soon followed, and we hear of a Milanese lady opening her house for an academy.
Arcangela Palladini excelled in painting, poetry, music, and embroidery. A piece of her needle-work hung in the ducal gallery at Pisa, where none but great works were preserved. Beatrice Pappafava, a paintress, was also a learned lady, and is said to have celebrated her own hundredth birthday in an original sonnet of much merit. Caterina Rusca obtained some repute as an engraver on copper; and Augusta Tarabotti, who studied painting under the direction of Clara Varotari, was also a poet and the author of “An Apology for the Female Sex,” which was received with considerable attention. Fede Galizia, the daughter of a celebrated miniaturist, lived in Milan. In figures and landscapes she evinced taste, accuracy, and finish. She was devoted to the ideal, and this tendency appeared in her design and coloring.