Sofonisba Anguissola

(Cremona circa 1532–1625 Palermo)
Portrait of a Goldsmith,
inscribed and dated upper right: ÆTATIS SVÆ 25 / A.° D.° 1566,
oil on canvas, 107 x 78 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Filippo Maria Ferro for suggesting the attribution and for his help in cataloguing the present painting. We are grateful to Marco Tanzi for independently confirming the attribution.

This work was traditionally attributed to a member of the Campi family and stylistically it recalls the manner of Bernardino Campi, and in particularly his style when he was influenced by Parmigianino. However, the sweetness of touch with which the goldsmith is evoked, recalls the psychological intuition and manner of Sofonisba Anguissola according to Ferro. Sofonisba Anguissola grew up in the shadow of Bernardino who painted her portrait in 1560, she was then close to Bernardino Gatti called il Sojaro.

While the atmosphere that characterises the present painting is that of the Anguissola family, it is important to note that in 1566 Sofonisba had been at the court of Philip II in Madrid for six years, engaged there as portraitist to the royal family. We know little of the painter’s activity during these years in Spain until 1573, when on returning to Palermo, she married Fabrizio Moncada, the brother of the viceroy of Sicily, Francesco II. The present painting can be compared to A Self-portrait at the Spinet, in the Spencer collection at Althorp, dated 1561, as it reveals the same suffused light as that in the present portrait of a goldsmith. It is possible to suggest that he is the scion of some renowned dynasty visiting the court, perhaps the Cambi (or Cambio) called Bombarda – a family of sculptors, stuccoists, medalists, and founders from Cremona who were renowned throughout Europe. In such a case this work would reveal itself to be a significant record of a moment in the career of Sofonisba about which is little known.