Young woman with braided hair, a faint smile, a white lace collar and a dark fur-lined coat against a black background

Portrait of Minerva Anguissola

See it in the 3D Museum View the full image

What you see

Minerva Anguissola is shown from the shoulders up, very close, her body slightly turned and her face almost frontal. She looks at us with large dark eyes and the hint of a smile. Her hair is braided around her head. Nothing distracts: the background is black, and only her face and collar catch the light.

Her pale skin and the bluish-grey lace of her collar stand out against the dark coat, whose fur lining frames her face like a soft border. Light comes from the left, leaving one side of her face in shadow. Seek out the thin cord around her neck and the glint in her eyes.

About Sofonisba Anguissola

Sofonisba Anguissola was born in Cremona into a noble family whose father wanted all six of his daughters to study art and letters, something very rare at the time. She painted her sisters playing, laughing and posing, and made so many self-portraits that her face was one of the best known of her age. She was painter and lady-in-waiting at the court of Philip II in Madrid and lived past ninety; in her old age the young Anthony van Dyck visited her in Palermo and drew her.

All 12 works by Sofonisba Anguissola

More by Sofonisba Anguissola

The Arcadópolis Museum has 443 public-domain works in 40 rooms, free to explore in 3D in your browser.

Enter the Museum