Portrait of Minerva Anguissola (Milan) explained

Portrait of Minerva Anguissola
Other Language 1:	Ritratto di Minerva Anguissola
Subject:	Minerva Anguissola (possibly a self-portrait instead)
Artist:	Sofonisba Anguissola
Year:	c. 1564
Medium:	Oil on canvas
Height Metric:	36
Width Metric:	29
Metric Unit:	cm
Imperial Unit:	in
Museum:	Pinacoteca di Brera
City:	Milan

Portrait of Minerva Anguissola is a c. 1564^[1] oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian painter Sofonisba Anguissola, now in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan.^{[2] [3]}

Its subject is believed to be the artist's sister, Minerva Anguissola, not to be confused with her older sister Elena Anguissola who took the name of "Sister Minerva" upon entering holy orders at the convent of San Vincenzo in Mantua. In comparison, one can see Elena Anguissola, painted as a novice by Sofonisba Anguissola in Portrait of Elena Anguissola.^{[4] [5]}

However some art historians argue that the painting is in fact a self-portrait produced during the artist's stay in Spain.^[6]

References

1. Web site: DWpress - Il notiziario delle donne. https://web.archive.org/web/20160306225422/http://www.mclink.it/n/dwpress/donnarte/7_00/donnarte.htm . 2016-03-06 . it.
2. Stefano Zuffi (ed.), La pittura in Lombardia. Dall'età spagnola al neoclassicismo, Milano, Electa, 2000, SBN IT\ICCU\BVE\0038751. Chapters by Marco Carminati and others.
3. Sofonisba Anguissola e le sue sorelle, Milano, Leonardo Arte, 1994, SBN IT\ICCU\RER\0011916.
4. Angela Ghirardi, Una ricerca iconografica nel cenacolo delle Anguissola: i ritratti di Minerva, 1992, pp 509–511
5. Flavio Caroli, Sofonisba Anguissola e le sue sorelle, Milano, A. Mondadori, 1987, pp 158–159, SBN IT\ICCU\CFI\0111864.
6. Luise F. Pusch, Susanne Gretter, Un mondo di donne: trecento ritratti celebri, Milano, NET, 2006, SBN IT\ICCU\CFI\0681774. Edizione italiana a cura di Maria Gregorio; introduzione di Natalia Aspesi.