Sofonisba Anguissola

Born in Cremona around 1535, Sofonisba Anguissola descended from a noble family in Piacenza and established himself as one of the first female European painters. A famous portrait painter, she was esteemed by the great artists of his time, such as Giorgio Vasari and Michelangelo Buonarroti. From 1559 to 1568 she was a portraitist of the Spanish royal family at the court of Philip II, where she resided as a lady of the court of Queen Isabella of Valois. After the death of her patron she returned to Italy, and in 1573 she married the aristocrat Fabrizio Moncada, the Prince of Paternò. After the latter’s death, she married the Genoese noble Orazio Lomellini. In 1615 she returned to Sicily following Lomellini who had many interests and contacts in Palermo with the Genoese community. In Palermo, the artist continued to paint when her health problems allowed it, already enjoying a great international reputation. At her death in 1624 she was buried in the church of San Giorgio (in the photo, gravestone), the church of the Genoese “Nation”.