Lucia Anguissola

1538 – 1565

Italian painter, one of six painter sisters from Cremona: Sofonisba, Lucia, Europa (c. 1542-c. 1578), Elena (fl 1546-84), Minerva (fl 1558-69) and Anna-Maria (c. 1555-c. 1611). Lucia probably trained with her sister, and her work, mainly portraits, is similar in style and technique. Her only signed painting, a portrait of a Cremonese doctor, Pietro Maria (early 1560s; Madrid, Prado), was praised by Vasari, who saw it when he visited the family after her death. It is a sensitive portrayal, in a restricted palette of greys and browns, and may be a pendant to Sofonisba's Portrait of a Lady (1557; Berlin, Gemäldegalerie). Lucia also painted a Virgin and Child (untraced) and a half-length Self-portrait (c. 1557; Milan, Castello Sforzesco). A Portrait of a Woman (early 1560s; Rome, Galleria Borghese) is thought to be either a self-portrait by her or Sofonisba, or a portrait of Lucia by Sofonisba. Two portraits (Brescia, Pinacoteca Civica Tosio-Martinengo; Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli), probably of Minerva Anguissola, may also be by Lucia.

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