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"If it were possible to demonstrate with a brush before the eyes of Your Holiness the beauty of the soul of this illustrious queen, Your Holiness could not see anything more wonderful. But with those aspects that art is able to render I have not neglected to the best of my ability to show Your Holiness the truth." - Sofonisba Anguissola
Besides living for 93 years, Anguissola challenged other 16th- and 17th century norms as well as expectations of a woman: She was well educated, she studied under the artist Bernardino Campi in her hometown of Cremona, and she became so successful a painter that in 1559 she was called to the court of King Philip II in Madrid, where she painted for 20 years. A friend and painting instructor to Philip's third wife, Isabel of VALOIS, Anguissola wrote the comments quoted above to Pope Pius IV in a letter that accompanied her portrait of Isabel. Anguissola is the first known woman artist to achieve international fame. Little is certain about her career, though much is speculated: for example, that she knew MICHELANGELO and CARAVAGGIO and influenced van DYCK (who drew her when she was quite old), and that she influenced and encouraged other women artists. She was, however, unable to break one enduring tradition, the neglect of women artists in the discipline of ART HISTORY-at lea st until the 1970s. Since then examples of her work have slowly been coming to light. These are primarily portraits, some self portraits, and many of her own family. As CASSATT would do some 300 years later, Anguissola reveals a sensitive understanding of women and children as people, not merely props, and paints the independence and dignity she finds in their character. One curious work of hers is a picture of a picture being painted; dated about 1550, it is entitled Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola.
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