![]() Three hundred years after Sofonisba’s birth, Marie Bashkirtseff was born in Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. Not every woman catapulted to such a high level of eminence. Only recently have scholars agreed this work - both ironic and deadly serious - is Sofonisba’s. The portrait, though, was misattributed for years. She merits having her portrait painted, she seems to say, even if she contrived the event. The task seems to worry him, whereas she appears serene and confident. She shows her teacher, Bernardo Campi, painting her portrait. Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, Italy.Įven more interesting is a portrait Sofonisba completed of herself when she was in her twenties. Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-portrait with Bernardino Campi, c. She gave him excellent advice on how to paint. The young Anthony van Dyck painted her portrait when she was in her nineties and, according to his journal entry, she was lively and sharp. Through numerous romantic liaisons and two marriages she continued painting, until her eyesight failed late in life. Sofonisba drew close to the young queen and stayed at court for fourteen years. When she was twenty-six, Sofonisba traveled to Spain to attend the marriage of King Philip II to Isabel de Valois, daughter of Catherine de Medici. ![]() Even Vasari noticed her, writing that the figures in one of her paintings “appear to be breathing and absolutely alive.” With her father acting as art dealer, she became a successful artist. The historical record suggests that her father even arranged for her to meet Michelangelo in Rome, for some informal mentoring. That, and the fact that her art might generate income for her impoverished family, motivated her parents to seek training for her. Most often, when a girl was given an education, it was so that she could converse knowledgeably with men, almost never so that she could pursue a calling in art or any other field. Seldom did an unmarried young woman live apart from her family, and rarely did a male artist accept a female pupil. Her parents encouraged her to learn the arts and, in an extremely rare step, arranged for her to apprentice with an established artist. She was born into an aristocratic but poor Italian family sometime around 1531. ![]() Sofonisba Anguissola was once at the top of her game, but she eventually nearly vanished from the historical record. The following examples suggest the breadth of her mission. One of the historian’s aims to lift them out of obscurity by burnishing their reputations for today’s audience. (Higgie herself is Australian.) Most are not well-known today, even though some were top-selling artists during their lifetimes. They are mostly European, but also from the Americas, India, New Zealand and Australia. Higgie covers close to thirty artists over a five hundred year span. It is also the result of her private introspection. ![]() How a woman chooses to portray herself depends partly on the prevailing view, at any given moment, of what art is supposed to be and do. While Iaia’s self-portrait no longer exists, it is highly doubtful that she displayed herself as Neel did - eighty years old, naked, with sagging breasts and bulging belly. ![]() Higgie ends her historical survey with Alice Neel. It was a way of coming to terms with who they were, even though others refused to pay attention. Thereafter, through the medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and modern periods, women continued to work in the same vein. In lively prose, author Jennifer Higgie touches on all of these bases, taking us through a varied terrain while advancing her illuminating thesis: women have always created self-portraits - regardless of whether the academies and exhibitions that validated the “real” stuff (aka men’s art) - barred the doors.Īs long ago as ancient Rome, according to Pliny the Elder, Iaia of Cyzicus used a rudimentary mirror to portray herself. Then there is the examination of the art itself, which offers opportunities for one-on-one communion with great works. At its best, the field understands art’s place in the world by blending explorations of political and cultural history, religion and mythology, geography and language. To read The Mirror and the Palette is to be reminded why art history is such a compelling subject. The Mirror and the Palette: Rebellion, Revolution, and Resilience: Five Hundred Years of Women’s Self Portraits by Jennifer Higgie. By skillfully balancing the historical and the imaginative, The Mirror and the Palette is not only a delight to read, but inspirational. ![]()
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