Elena Anguissola ( – 1584) was an

Italian painter Following is a list of Italian painters (in alphabetical order) who are notable for their art. A *Niccolò dell'Abbate (1509/1512–1571) *Giuseppe Abbati (1836–1868) * Angiolo Achini (1850–1930) * Pietro Adami (fl. c. 1730) *Eugenio Agn ...

and

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

. She was the sister of the better-known painter Sofonisba (or Sophonisba) Anguissola.

Biography

Elena Anguissola (who became a nun with the name of Sister Minerva) was the daughter of Amilcare Anguissola and Bianca Ponzoni. The spelling of the surname, in sixteenth century documents, varies between Angosciola and Angussola. Her parents were of noble origins. Her father belonged to the Genoese nobility and had moved to Lombardy. With his family, Amilcare Anguissola lived in

Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

, in a building on Via Pellegrino Tibaldi. He taught all of his children a humanistic culture, with readings of Latin and Italian texts, and painting for the eldest daughters Elena and Sofonisba, under the guidance of

Bernardino Campi Bernadino Campi (1522–1591) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Cremona, who worked in Reggio Emilia. He is known as one of the teachers of Sofonisba Anguissola and of Giovanni Battista Trotti (il Malosso). In Cremona, his extended family o ...

(1522–1591). They lived for three years in the house of Campi and in 1546, when the painter left Cremona and moved to

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Sofonisba Anguissola became the painting teacher of her younger sisters. This is the first case documented in Italy of girls sent to live at the home of a painter to accommodate their inclination towards art, as well as the first Italian family with painter sisters. In 1550 Elena and Sofonisba (the older sisters) passed into the workshop of

Bernardino Gatti Bernardino Gatti (c.1495 – 22 February 1576) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance, active mainly in Parma and Cremona. He is also commonly called il Sojaro. He was born in or near Pavia or Cremona. His early apprenticeship is unclear, ...

, called ''the Sojaro''. They specialized in portraiture and also took inspiration from the art of

Moretto da Brescia Alessandro Bonvicino (also Buonvicino) (possibly 22 December 1554), more commonly known as Moretto, or in Italian Il Moretto da Brescia (the Moor of Brescia), was an Italian Renaissance painter from Brescia, where he also mostly worked. His da ...

and the mannerism of the Spanish portrait. The two sisters went to

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

, where they were received at the Gonzaga court. In 1566

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...

arrived in Cremona and, as a guest in the Anguissola house, marveled at the art of the sisters. Elena retired to the convent of San Vincenzo in Mantua as a Dominican nun, taking the name of Sister Minerva (not to be confused with her younger sister called Minerva). Her name is mentioned in a letter of 1557, written by her father to the Duchess of Mantua and in her brother's will, dated 1575. Perhaps it is her ''Portrait of the Dominican as Saint Catherine of Siena'' - it could be her self-portrait - kept in the

Galleria Borghese The or Borghese Gallery is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate touri ...

in Rome. ''Portrait of a nun'' by Sofonisba Anguissola, signed and dated, is thought to be a portrait of Elena, in the guise of Sister Minerva. The novice nun holds a book in her hand, lined with red leather and with gold friezes.

Children of Amilcare Anguissola and Bianca Ponzoni

The reference text, for this list, is the catalog published in 1994 by Leonardo Arte which was an opportunity to review ancient, well-known documents and to compare them with other unpublished documents. The fundamental dates are: * 1530, date of the parents' marriage * 1551 year of birth of Amilcare and the chronological succession of births of children. Not only were contemporary documents studied, but also the apparent age of the Anguissola family members, in the paintings of Sofonisba. The other dates of birth, in the cited catalog, are expressed in the form of a fork, in two or three years. However, in order to respect the chronological succession of the births of the children, we have opted in some cases for an intermediate dating, inside the fork. The names are not surprising because, except for Lucia and Elena who were the names of the grandmothers, at Anguissola the names were taken from mythology or ancient history. No reference was found for Anna Maria. * Sofonisba (1535-1625), painter, married first Fabrizio Moncada and secondly Orazio Lomellini. * Elena (1536-post 1585), painter, enters the convent with the name Sister Minerva. * Lucia (1537-1565), painter. * Minerva (1539-1566), teacher, not painter, but excellent in Latin and Italian letters. * Europa (1542 (or 1543) -?), painter, married Carlo Schinchinelli. * Asdrubale (1551-1623), musician. * Anna Maria (1555-1611), painter and teacher, married Giacomo di Gaspare Sommi in 1574.

Bibliography

* Catalog of the exhibition held in Cremona in 1994, in Vienna and in Washington in 1995. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anguissola, Elena 1530s births 1584 deaths Painters from Cremona 16th-century Italian painters Italian Renaissance painters Italian women painters 16th-century Italian women artists Sibling artists Sofonisba Anguissola 16th-century women painters