Elisabeth of Valois by Sofonisba Anguissola

~ JezzieG
Elisabeth of Valois by Sofonisba Anguissola

Elisabeth of Valois
1561-65
Portraiture
Oil on canvas
Museo Nacional del Prado, Spain

“Elisabeth of Valois” is a large-scale painting in which Anguissola captured the image of the newly married Queen of Spain, dressed in swaths of expensive black cloth and bejeweled with pearls and rubies from neck to hem. A wealthy Renaissance queen the numerous pearls symbolize wealth and fertility, the latter rather unfortunate as it was her fourth pregnancy and second miscarriage that ended the queen’s short life.

Sofonisba Anguissola
Mannerism, Baroque
Born: 1532, Cremona, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Died: 16 November 1625, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

Sofonisba Anguissola 1532-1625

Anguissola was a Renaissance painter, born to a poor but noble family. She received a well-rounded education including the fine arts and her apprenticeship with local painters of the time set a precedent for women to be accepted as students of art

Published by JezzieG

I am a freelance writer and poet and started writing after raising my two boys as a way of discovering just who Jez is. That is still very much an ongoing project but the journey so far has introduced me to many wonderful friends and fellow writers through an ever-growing love of poetry.

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