“Drawing upon a wealth of archival sources, Gamberini’s book offers fresh insights into Anguissola’s personal and professional life, including the complex web of familial and patronage networks that she navigated between Italy and Spain.”
—Tanja L. Jones, Associate Professor, The University of Alabama
“Cecilia Gamberini’s Sofonisba Anguissola is the story of an extraordinary painter’s life which unfolds between Cremona, Madrid, Paterno, Genoa and Palermo. Each stage of Sofonisba Anguissola’s career marks a change in her work, from formidable beginnings to official portraits of the Spanish court, and finally to her devotional paintings in her last few years spent between Liguria and Sicily. It is a story which reinvigorates and deepens our understanding of an artist who was also a pioneer of female art.”
—Angela Ghirardi, Art Historian
“Both entertaining and rigorous, Cecilia Gamberini’s monograph offers us the artistic and personal history of one of the most important women artists of the modern era. Helped by the social and familial environments in which she grew up, Anguissola’s skills gave her mythical status. Taking in the quality and depth of Sofonisba's portraits, Gamberini depicts the long life and biographical adventures of a fascinating and unique personality.”
—Leticia Ruiz Gómez, Director of Colecciones Reales of the Patrimonio Nacional, Spain