Sofonisba Anguissola · 1555
The Chess Game
Posters from $15 · Canvas from $39
Sofonisba's three sisters playing chess in their Cremona garden, a servant looking on — the first Western painting to treat noblewomen casually at home. National Museum, Poznań.
Up to 24 × 16 in · landscape
Size
Larger sizes are unavailable for this painting because the source scan's resolution wouldn't print at gallery quality.
Format & finish
Archival cotton canvas stretched over a wooden frame. Ready to hang as-is. No external frame.
Scale next to a 5'10" person
+ tax at checkout
The story of The Chess Game
The Game of Chess is an oil-on-canvas painting created around 1555 by the Italian Renaissance artist Sofonisba Anguissola. Anguissola was 23 years old when she created the painting, which is now housed at the National Museum in Poznań, Poland.
Adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sofonisba Anguissola
Sofonisba Anguissola was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Cremona to a relatively poor noble family. She received a well-rounded education that included the fine arts, and her apprenticeship with local painters set a precedent for women to be accepted as students of art. As a young woman, Anguissola travelled to Rome where she was introduced to Michelangelo, who immediately recognized her talent, and to Milan, where she painted Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba. The Spanish queen, Elizabeth of Valois, was a keen amateur painter, and in 1559 Anguissola was recruited to go to Madrid as her tutor, with the rank of lady-in-waiting. She later became an official court painter to the king, Philip II, and adapted her style to the more formal requirements of official portraits for the Spanish court. After the Queen's death, Philip helped arrange an aristocratic marriage for her. She moved to Sicily, and later Pisa and Genoa, where she continued to practice as a leading portrait painter.
All Sofonisba Anguissola prints →Biography adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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