Giorgio Vasari
"If women know so well how to make living men, what marvel is it that those who wish are also so well able to make them in painting?
Original Italian:
[Ma se le donne sí bene sanno fare gli uomini vivi, che maraviglia che quelle che vogliono sappiano anco fargli si bene dipinti?]
Vasari, Volume 6 Page 502
In this passage Vasari makes reference to popular beliefs about reproduction and the male sex. People of that time considered the man to be 'the creator' in relation to human reproduction. Vasari is then remarking how impressive it is that a woman, who is not generally a creator, can reproduce people so well in her art. Sofonisba is in possession of masculine attributes and commends her on her achievement of what so many other women could not grasp. Vasari goes on to classify Anguissola as a virtuose, or a woman artist who possesses the attributes of a man.
"I must relate that I saw this year [1556], in the house of [Sofonisba's] father at Cremona, a picture executed by her hand with great diligence, portraits of her three sisters, ...who appear truly alive and lack nothing except speech. In another picture may be seen...her father Signor Amilcare, who has on one side one of his daughters, Minerva, ... and on the other side [his son] Asdrubale... [They also were executed so well that they appear to be breathing and absolutely alive."
Vasari, Volume 6 Page 498-9
It was a common thought at the time that women were incapable of expressing the abstract and seeing the soul of a person. Therefore they could not have the artistic ability to express lively, realistic figures in their art. Visari's preconceived notions on the nature of women are blown away when he encounters Sofonisba's depiction of her family. He sees the life that she has been able to depict within her figures and praises her ability to express the human soul so effectively.
"It is no long time since Messer Tommaso Cavalieri, a Roman gentleman, sent to the Lord Duke Cosimo (in addition to a drawing by the hand of the divine Michelangelo, wherin is a Cleopatra) another drawing by the hand of Sofonisba, containing a little girl laughing at a boy who is weeping because one of the cray fish out of a basket full of them, which she has placed in front of him, is biting his finger; and there is nothing more graceful to be seen in that drawing, or more close to the truth.
Vasari, Volume 5 Page 81
In this letter Vasari focuses on the way that Sofonisba has mastered the 'art of drawing' [l'arte del disignio]. Her ability to create emotion in the faces apart from a blank stare was a talent that Vasari would have only associated with men until encountering Sofonisba. His remarks of her grace and the way she depicts the figure so close to the truth is telling of Sofonisba's special talent for physiognomic expression and human emotion. The fact that she shows two figures responding with two different emotions was especially interesting to her contemporaries. Leon Alberti would comment on her drawing:
And who would ever believe, if he had not tried it, how difficult it is if he wishes to paint a face which laughs, to do it so that it is not rather weeping than happy? And who, moreover, could ever manage without very great study to create faces in which the mouth, the chin, the yes, the cheeks, the forehead, the eyebrows, everything fits together to smile or weep.
Leon Battista Alberti, Della pittura, Page 94
Obviously Sofonisba was an eye opener to those around her. Her talent and accomplishment evidently changed the way that at least a few professional artists viewed the ability of women. Even though they probably saw her as an anomaly, the way they gush over her ability in an uncharacteristically appreciative tone implies a strong impact on their overall world view. Sofonisba was therefore not only a talented artist, but a powerful factor of social reform and progressive thinking in a time when women were looked down upon. She didn't use violence or angry words. She let her accomplishments do the talking, and the critics followed soon after.