Lucia Anguissola

Lucia Anguissola (1536 or 1538 – before 1568) was an Italian Mannerist painter of the late Renaissance. Born in Cremona, Italy, she was the third daughter among the seven children of Amilcare Anguissola and Bianca Ponzoni. Her father was a member of the Genoese minor nobility and encouraged his five daughters to develop artistic skills alongside their humanist education. Lucia most likely trained with her renowned eldest sister Sofonisba Anguissola. Her paintings, mainly portraits, are similar in style and technique to those of her sister. Contemporary critics considered her skill exemplary; according to seventeenth-century biographer Filippo Baldinucci, Lucia had the potential to "become a better artist than even Sofonisba" had she not died so young. One of her extant paintings, Portrait of Pietro Manna, (early 1560s) was praised by Giorgio Vasari, who saw it when he visited the family after her death. He wrote that Lucia, "dying, had left of herself not less fame than that of Sofonisba, through several paintings by her own hand, not less beautiful and valuable than those by the sister." Lucia Anguissola is represented in a painting of 1555 by her sister Sofonisba titled The Chess Game, along with her younger sisters Minerva and Europa. Lucia appears at the far left, with both hands on the chess board; Europa, smiling, is the youngest girl; and Minerva appears at the right, raising her right hand; a servant stands behind them. The painting suggests the interactions between the siblings and represents their high status. Lucia gazes directly at the viewer, suggesting her connection to Sofonisba, but also seeming to invite the viewer to join in.