Il destino di Sofonisba

Cremona, 1546. Sofonisba Anguissola was barely more than a child when she realised the one thing that could truly make her happy: painting. Hers was not merely a inclination, but a consuming passion; she did not want to feast her eyes on art, she wanted to create it. Although her era was by no means kind to enterprising women, the nobleman Amilcare Anguissola decided not to thwart his daughter’s aspirations, allowing her to take private lessons on condition that she did not attend a workshop, did not come into contact with other apprentices, and was barred from studying geometry, perspective and anatomy. Sofonisba was thus able to push her ambition beyond what she would ever have believed possible. Despite the many limitations, she immediately proved capable of capturing on canvas the deepest emotions and stirrings of the soul of those she portrayed. It was something that could not be taught, a natural talent combined with an almost absolute mastery of the elusive world of pigments, oils and resins. Her extraordinary gift took her far from her native Cremona, to Milan and then on to Habsburg Spain, where she became, albeit unofficially, a court painter. But every success leaves its mark, just as every battle fought to have a role traditionally reserved for men recognised does. Adverse circumstances forced Sofonisba to give up the great love of her life, and the Spanish monarch Philip II compelled her into a marriage of convenience. Nothing, however, in her long life, will ever distract her from her greatest work of art: the forging of her destiny as a free artist, which the passing of the centuries has not diminished.