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Sofonisba Anguissola, 'The Chess Game' 1955  

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Sofonisba Anguissola, 'The Chess Game' 1955  

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Take a minute to explore The Chess Game painting below. What do you think is going on in the painting? What stands out to you? (click on the image to expand it and view up close)

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Sofonisba, (portrayed below) painted 'The Chess Game' of her three sisters and their maid. It was an unusual painting at the time because of the subject matter -- the sitters (her sisters) appear to be enjoying themselves in a leisurely activity and having fun! It is one of the first Renaissance paintings to show this kind of lifestyle scene. More typical were formal portraits where the sitters were stiff and posed, certainly not smiling like Sofonisba's youngest sister.

Below: Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait, c. 1560

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Chess was played by both men and women in the Renaissance, mostly by members of the noble class. It was considered an excellent intellectual exercise, in contrast to card and dice games which were considered games of chance and luck. Card and dice games were also forbidden to women.

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Notice the background on the far right of The Chess Game? It was a landscape scene that Sofonisba painted of the family's home town, Cremona. Including landscapes within a portrait was a technique used by Renaissance painters to demonstrate their skill. It required a technique of 'perspective' by painting a village, city or landscape appearing in the distance.

Titian (short for 'Tiziano Vecelli) the artist of the portrait below, used this technique frequently, as seen in this portrait of his (red circle added to highlight).
Titian was a was a well-known painter of the Renaissance, according to the National Gallery in London he was "the greatest painter of 16th-century".

How do you think Sofonisba's painting compares to Titian's painting, Portrait of Count Antonio Porcia, 1535 (below)?

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Even though the The Chess Game is one of Sofonisba's better known paintings, it is not her best. She was only 23 years old when she painted this work. Her skill developed over time and the portraits she painted while working in King Phillip's court showed far more skill like the painting below, Portrait of Catalina Micaela of Spain (below), c. 1580-1588 also known as The Lady in a Fur Wrap.

However, the painting's attribution has been controversial; it has been attributed to at least two artists (both male), yet several art scholars believe it is by Sofonisba. Click here to read the article describing the recent attribution (to a male artist).

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Sofonisba included several elements in her painting that give clues to the family's Noble status: the children's clothing, the maid watching over the girls, and the  Oriental carpet on top of the table where the chess board sits

Oriental carpets were used in the Italian Renassiance as decorative elements; they were a symbol of luxury and status and most often displayed on table tops rather than on the floor. The carpet in Sofonisba's  painting  (similar to the one pictured below) may have come from Egypt, North Africa or the Ottoman Empire (Turkey).

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How does The Chess Game portray family dynamics? Does it remind you of any photographs that you have of friends and/or family?