Sofonisba Anguissola (Cremona ?1530/6-1625)
Sir Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 - London 1641)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1624
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
416 x 337 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Knole, Kent
NT 129883
Summary
Oil painting on panel, Sofonisba Anguissola (c.1532 - 1625) by Sir Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 - London 1641), 1624. A head-and-shoulders portrait of an old woman, turned slightly to the left, gazing to the left, wearing a black dress and white linen veil over her head. This portrait closely resembles the pen drawing, dated 12 July 1624 in Van Dyck's Italian Sketchbook (British Museum) of the Italian artist Sophonisba Anguissola at the age of 96. Previously it was known as Catherine Fitzgerald, Countess of Desmond (d.1636). Framed.
Provenance
Possibly brought to Knole by Arabella Diana, 3rd Duchess of Dorset (d.1825), daughter and co-heiress of Sir Charles Cope; thence by descent; accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the National Trust in 2012
Credit line
Knole, The Sackville Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Sir Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 - London 1641), publisher
Exhibition history
Van Dyck in Sicily 1624-25 Painting and the Plague, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 2012, no.6
References
Van Dyck in Sicily 1624-1625 Painting and the Plague (ed. Xavier F.Salomon), exh. cat., Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2012, pp.74-5, no.6 Barnes, De Poorter, Millar, Vey, 2004 Susan J. Barnes, Nora De Poorter, Oliver Millar and Horst Vey, Van Dyck. A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London, 2004, pp.171, act. II.27 Rowell 2018 Christopher Rowell, ‘Women Artists, Collectors and Patrons’, National Trust Historic Houses & Collections Annual, 2018, pp.8-9 Ruiz Gómez 2019: Leticia Ruiz Gómez (ed.), A Tale of Two Women Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana (exh. cat.), Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado, 2019, pp. 134-7, cat. 22 Conroy, Rachel, Women Artists and Designers at the National Trust, 2025, p. 11