This portrait is a full-length likeness of Philip II’s third wife, Queen Isabel de Valois. She wears a black gown with pointed sleeves and a long train that is curled around her body and billows at th [+]
Sofonisba Anguissola arrived in Spain in 1559 to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Philip II’s third wife, Elizabeth of Valois (1546-1568). A renowned painter in her native Cremona, she held no official p [+]
Though she drew on models characteristic of Spanish court portraiture, the soft modelling, diffuse lighting and subtle brushwork are distinctive features of Sofonisba’s own style, and of the Lombard p [+]
The identification of this elderly gentleman sitting at a desk in his study is borne out by the inscription on the fore edge of the book he is writing in, which displays the words "rime del casellio". [+]