Sofonisba

"She was known as the greatest female painter of her time, a miracle among her peers. Then she was written out of history and forgotten. The story of Sofonisba Anguissola's long and active life during the Renaissance and into the Baroque period is an extraordinary one. Now her place in history shall be restored with a special and ambitious exhibition this autumn at the Nivaagaard Collection, where visitors can look forward to experiencing a large part of Sofonisba's known, surviving oeuvre. The museum, which owns one of Sofonisba's most important core works, will bring together around 20 of her paintings in what will be the first Northern European exhibition of the most renowned female artist of the Italian Renaissance. Sofonisba's history and masterful art are still a source of great inspiration. Although she lived more than 400 years ago, this adventurous female figure comes to life before us in her self-portraits, written sources and through her representations of the people who touched and coloured her life. Like no other, she captured the exquisite textiles and jewellery, the sincere visages of young children and intriguing human gazes against the dreamy backgrounds of her compellingly beautiful paintings. Sofonisba was a female renegade and a unique role model for her age. Since then she has fallen into oblivion much like many other women who were erased from the annals of art history, especially in the 19th century. The exhibition of these historical and fragile works has been possible thanks to the museum's recent climate renovation in all of the exhibition halls, funded by a large donation from four important foundations. The Collection has been preparing for this exhibition since 2018, loaning works from museums in Italy, Spain, France, the UK, Poland, Germany and from private collectors as well."--