| Child Bitten by a Lobster | |
|---|---|
| Asdrubale bitten by a crayfish | |
 | |
| Year | c. 1554 |
| Dimensions | 33.3 cm (13.1 in) × 38.5 cm (15.2 in) |
| Location | Italy |
The Child Bitten by A Lobster is a drawing by the Italian painter Sofonisba Anguissola, executed in chalk and pencil on light blue paper, and dated to around 1554. It is in the collection of the Museo di Capodimonte, in Naples. [1] [2] [3]
This drawing was originally in the collection of cardinal Fulvio Orsini. Around 1600 it was inherited by cardinal Odoardo Farnese, together with other works by Sofonisba Anguissola: The Game of Chess , the Self-Portrait at a Spinet , and an unidentified drawing. Then it came to the Bourbon of Naples, via the Farnese inheritance and is present in the 1644 and 1653 inventories of Palazzo Farnese, in Rome. In 1799 was taken to Naples and here the attribution to Sofonisba Anguissola was lost. [4]
From a letter written by Tommaso Cavalieri to Cosimo I de' Medici, on 20 January 1562, accompanying the gift of two drawings (one of which was the Old Woman Studying the Alphabet and Laughing Girl by Sofonisba Anguissola and the other was Cleopatra di Michelangelo Buonarroti), we know that Child Bitten by A Lobster was made on the suggestion of Michelangelo – to whom it had been sent for viewing – and depicted Asdrubale, the younger brother of Sofonisba (born in 1551):
Having a drawing by the hand of the Cremonese noble woman called Sofhonisba Angosciosa [sic], today a lady in waiting for the Queen of Spain, I sent it was this [a Cleopatra by Michelangelo] and I believe that it is of equal merit to many other drawings, not only because it is beautiful but it is also inventive, and this is something that the divine Michelangelo, having seeing a drawing by her hand of a laughing boy, said that he wanted to see a crying putto as that was even more difficult too, and having written this, she sent him this studied portrait of her crying brother.
— Tommaso Cavalieri, "Lettera"
According to Roberto Longhi, this version was originally thought it was a copy and the original drawing was in Berlin in a private collection. It was then attributed to Santi di Tito and the Berlin drawing was then considered a copy. Engravings were made from this drawing. [5]
The child (Asdrubale Anguissola) has put his hand in a basket, where a lobster is hidden. He cries from the sudden pain, next to his little sister (Europa Anguissola). This drawing, which anticipates Caravaggio's Boy Bitten by a Lizard , depicts one of the first expressions by the artist in which a sudden physical pain provokes an outpouring of grief. The naturalism, deriving from the studies of physiognomy by Leonardo da Vinci, spread in 1550s Lombardy and was also taken up by Anguissola. [6]
Sofonisba Anguissola, also known as Sophonisba Angussola or Sophonisba Anguisciola, 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 traveled to Rome where she was introduced to Michelangelo, who immediately recognized her talent, and to Milan, where she painted the 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.
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Elena Anguissola was an Italian painter and nun. She was the sister of the better-known painter Sofonisba Anguissola.
The Libro de' Disegni was a collection of drawings gathered, sorted and grouped by Giorgio Vasari whilst writing his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. By the time of his death in 1574 it is thought to have contained around 526 drawings, of which 162 are now in the Louvre and 83 in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. There are also drawings from the Libro in the prints and drawings departments of the Uffizi, the British Museum, the Albertina, the National Gallery of Art and other institutions.
Self-Portrait at a Spinet is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian artist Sofonisba Anguissola, from c. 1555. It is held in the National Museum of Capodimonte, in Naples.
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The Chess Game is a painting of c. 1530 by Giulio Campi, a Renaissance painter from Cremona. Since 1970, it has been in the Museo Civico d'Arte Antica in Turin.
The Portrait of Elena Anguissola, dated to 1551, is one of the earliest paintings by Sofonisba Anguissola. An oil painting on canvas, it is in the Southampton City Art Gallery, which acquired it in 1936.
The Game of Chess is an oil-on-canvas painting executed ca. 1555 by Italian Renaissance artist Sofonisba Anguissola. Anguissola was 23 years old when she painted it.
Self-Portrait is a small oil-on-panel painting by the Italian artist Sofonisba Anguissola, signed and dated 1554 on the open book held by the artist. The portrait is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, in Vienna.
Portrait of Minerva Anguissola is a c. 1564 oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian painter Sofonisba Anguissola, now in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan.
Portrait of Elisabeth of Valois is an oil-on-canvas painting executed c.1561–1565 by the Italian artist Sofonisba Anguissola, now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
Portrait of Bianca Ponzoni Anguissola or Lady in White is an oil-on canvas-painting created in 1557 by the Italian Renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola. It is a portrait of the artist's mother. It is now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. It is securely identified as the artist's mother, since it reuses two elements from The Game of Chess, Lucia's pearl headdress and Minerva/Elena's necklace Under the arm of the chair are the signature and date "Sophonisba Angussola Virgo F. 15.5.7".
Portrait of Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia is a 1599 oil-on-canvas painting of Isabella Clara Eugenia by the Italian painter Sofonisba Anguissola, identified in 1992 by Maria Kusche. Owned by the Museo del Prado, it currently hangs in the Spanish Embassy in Paris.
