Grace Day

Power and Representation: The Self-Portraits of Sofonisba Anguissola

Grace Day

Though most “master” painters in the Early Modern art canon are men, there are some exceptions and I believe that Sofonisba Anguissola is one of them. Her skills matched and even exceeded those of other celebrated Renaissance painters, and the lack of recognition she has received until more recent scholarship shows the prejudice that women artists faced in the Early Modern Period. To combat this prejudice, Sofonisba presents herself as an artist in her self-portraits in order to establish her authority and identity as a painter. Sofonisba adjusts her appearance in her self-portraits in order to critique unfair biases against women artists and the oppressive beauty standards that they were expected to uphold. Sofonisba’s self-portraits serve to establish herself as a serious artist while uplifting other early modern women. Portraits present the sitter in the way they wanted to be seen publicly, and were used to establish one’s power and status. Artists could manipulate the sitter’s appearance, and often did to maintain societal beauty standards. During the Renaissance, beauty ideals were largely derived from the works of the Roman poet, Petrarch. Petrarch described the ideal woman with characteristics such as fair skin, light hair and rosy cheeks. Most portraits of Early Modern women adhere to the Petrarchan ideals, and as an accomplished portrait artist, Sofonisba was well aware of these

standards. In this first portrait entitled Self-portrait at the Easel1 (see fig.1) Sofonisba strays from Petrarchan beauty standards in order to represent her authority as an artist. The artist is dressed modestly and her brown hair is pulled back out of her face. Sofonisba seems reserved but still elegant. Traditional Petrarchan characteristics such as a long neck and rosy cheeks are not present in this self-portrait, this portrayal is more masculine, as the artist wants to seem more like her male contemporaries in order to establish her own authority alongside them. The prejudicial view that women are less intelligent and skilled than men was an obstacle that women artists had to deal with, and in an attempt to overcome this sexist idea Sofonisba depicts herself in a way that reflects modesty and intelligence. Sofonisba’s gaze meets the viewer’s which was more typical of portraits of men. Sofonisba’s assertive gaze is another way in which the artist portrays herself as more masculine. By depicting herself as more masculine she is asserting herself as a skilled artist who is worthy of the same recognition that her male contemporaries received. By presenting herself in the act of painting, Sofonisba is establishing herself as a talented artist with a command of the brush. For her patrons, Sofonisba’s skill was evident, but it was difficult for women artists to receive the recognition they deserved. Sofonisba’s body faces the easel, and her head turns to look at the viewer as if she has just been interrupted while working. This shows the viewer that she is engaged in her work and takes it seriously. By holding the brush to the canvas, Sofonisba is taking ownership of her work and is proving to the viewer that she is capable of making masterpieces. The inclusion of a devotional image reflects Sofonisba’s piety, but also shows that she is an artist capable of depicting such an important genre. Paintings that depicted religious or historical scenes were the highest genres of art that master painters worked in. Sofonisba draws a connection between herself and her more famous male contemporaries

32 Babel Volume XXI through this devotional image, as she shows that she is capable of creating fine art. This self-portrait serves as proof of her own skills and talent, and she depicts herself as more masculine in order to align herself with master painters. Sofonisba establishes her artistic authority in a more nuanced way in her painting entitled, Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola2 (see fig.2). This double portrait was painted by

Sofonisba in 1559, long after her mentorship with local artist,

Bernardino Campi. Sofonisba presents Campi in a similar fashion to how she presents herself in the previous portrait. Campi is engaged in the act of painting and glances over his shoulder at the viewer as if he has been interrupted while working. Again, by showing Campi at work Sofonisba is presenting him as the artist, and he holds the paintbrush directly to the canvas to emphasize that it is his work. Though Campi is an important aspect of this painting, Sofonisba does not want him to be the focus. Sofonisba uses a solid, black background and dresses Campi in dark clothes as to not distract the viewer from Sofonisba’s portrait. By portraying a respected artist in the process of painting his student,

Sofonisba is asserting her own authority as an artist by affiliating herself with her former master. Moving onto the focal point of this painting, Sofonisba presents herself as much more feminine by using the Petrarchan beauty standard to depict herself. Because this portrait is being created by Campi, Sofonisba adjusts her appearance to suit the

Petrarchan standard. In her article entitled “Here’s Looking at

Me: Sofonisba Anguissola and the Problem of the Woman Artist,” Mary D. Garrard points out the oppression that beauty standards cause for women. Garrard writes, Women artists were brought under theoretical control by (1) explaining them as exceptional to the natural order of things, marvels of nature, and (2) defining them in terms that reinforced their likeness to other women rather than men, specifically by emphasizing their beauty and their vir-

tue.3 Beauty standards form expectations that women are supposed to adhere to in order to seem desirable, but men do not have these same standards. By portraying herself as the work of a male artist, Sofonisba is commenting on these beauty standards and how women are forced to conform to what society expects from them. Sofonisba appears more feminine in this painting, as she has incorporated Petrarchan characteristics such as fair skin, an elongated neck and rosy lips and cheeks. Her hair also appears to be lighter than in the previous self-portrait, as blonde hair is another characteristic of Petrarchan beauty. These features were not exaggerated in the previous self-portrait, which shows that she is adjusting her appearance. Sofonisba’s clothing is much more extravagant in this painting, and this costume expresses vanity, wealth and femininity. She objectifies herself for the viewer, as she is the true work of art. One strange feature of this double portrait is Sofonisba’s third hand, something that could be easily overlooked at first glance. One hand meets Campi’s while another bizarrely extends from beneath it and rests on her skirt. She appears to reach out to take the brush from Campi and take control of the artistic process. While Sofonisba may be establishing her own artistic prowess in this way, I propose that she is playing a trick on the viewer to see if they are able to notice the extra hand. It breaks the realism of her self-portrait, perhaps because her self-portrait is not realistic at all, as it is embellished to suit the gaze of a male viewer. Sofonisba sees that society uses women’s physical appearance to determine their worth, and Sofonisba expresses this inequality in this painting by depicting herself according to Petrarchan beauty standards. In conclusion, Sofonisba’s primary goal with these selfportraits was to establish her authority as a woman artist, while commenting on the ways in which women were oppressed and deprived of their own unique identities. These different representations show that Sofonisba was aware of the biases against wom-

34 Babel Volume XXI en artists, as she felt that she had to change the way in which she depicted herself in order to portray herself as an artist in her own right. She adheres to Petrarchan beauty standards when she wants to critique them, and rejects them when aligning herself with her male contemporaries. These self-portraits reflect Sofonisba’s need to assert herself as an artist worthy of recognition and respect, and her issues with the sexist prejudice that existed in the Early

Modern art world.

Figures

Fig. 1. Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-portrait at the Easel, 1556, Oil on Canvas, 66 x 57 cm, Lancut Castle, Lancut.

Fig. 2. Sofonisba Anguissola, Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola. 1559, Oil on canvas, 111 x 110 cm, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena.

Notes 1 Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-portrait at the Easel, 1556, Oil on Canvas, 66 x 57 cm, Lancut Castle, Lancut. 2 Sofonisba Anguissola, Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola. 1559, Oil on canvas, 111 x 110 cm, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena. 3 Mary D. Garrard, “Here's Looking at Me: Sofonisba Anguissola and the Problem of the Woman Artist,” Renaissance Quarterly 47, no. 3 (1994): 556-622.

Bibliography Anguissola, Sofonisba. Self-portrait at the Easel, 1556, Oil on Canvas, 66 x 57 cm, Lancut Castle, Lancut. Anguissola, Sofonisba. Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola. 1559, Oil on canvas, 111 x 110 cm, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena. Garrard, Mary D. “Here's Looking at Me: Sofonisba Anguissola and the Problem of the Woman Artist.” Renaissance Quarterly 47, no. 3 (1994): 556622. Accessed March 29, 2021. doi:10.2307/2863021.