Portrait of Massimiliano II Stampa

Portrait of Massimiliano II Stampa is a c.1558 oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola,[1] now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, USA.[2] It was previously misattributed to Giovan Battista Moroni, possibly due to stylistic similarities with Moroni's The Knight in Black.[3]

Portrait of Massimiliano II Stampa
ArtistSofonisba Anguissola
Yearc.1558
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions134.94 cm × 71.12 cm (53.13 in × 28.00 in)
LocationWalters Art Museum, Baltimore

One of Anguissola's most important commissions, it shows Massimiliano II Stampa, 3rd Marquess of Soncino, then aged around nine.[4] The Stampa family commissioned the portrait to commemorate Massimiliano's inheritance of the title on the death of his father in 1557.

His dress is clearly influenced by the Spanish dominance of Lombardy at that time and the painting's style is also influenced by Spanish portraitists of the time in its aristocratically cold pose and allegorical symbols of wealth and social success.[5][6]

References

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  1. ^ Harris, Ann Sutherland; Nochlin, Linda (1976). Women Artists: 1550–1950. New York: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Knopf. ISBN 0-394-41169-2.
  2. ^ "Portrait of Marquess Massimiliano Stampa". Walters Art Museum.
  3. ^ Perlingieri, Ilya Sandra (1992). Sofonisba Anguissola. Rizzoli International. ISBN 0-8478-1544-7.
  4. ^ Ferino-Pagden, Sylvia; Kusche, Maria (1995). Sofonisba Anguissola: A Renaissance Woman. National Museum of Women in the Arts. ISBN 0-940979-31-4
  5. ^ Chadwick, Whitney (1990). Women, Art, and Society. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20354-7.
  6. ^ Pizzagalli, Daniela (2003). La signora della pittura: vita di Sofonisba Anguissola, gentildonna e artista nel Rinascimento, Milano, Rizzoli. ISBN 88-17-99509-6.