Tanya Klowden

Interconnected Identities: Alonzo Sánchez Coello, Sofonisba Anguissola, and Portraiture in the Court of Philip II of Spain

My research connects to the body of paintings primarily produced for the court of Philip II of Spain by 16th c. Spanish painter Alonso Sánchez Coello and Cremonese painter Sofonisba Anguissola to seek evidence of their collaboration and cooperation in producing formal court portraits.  Within a conventional art historical and visual analysis domain, my work considers the following questions: To what extent did each artist contribute to court portraiture as they moved between the painting workshop and the expectations of court? How was Sofonisba influenced by and did she conform to the established Spanish portraiture style? To what extent was Sánchez Coello influenced by the Northern Italian diligenza in portraits he was commissioned to copy? To what extent did coordination in the production of portraits yield direct collaboration between the artists?

Critical to this study is the recognition of the impact of state portraiture upon Europe’s cultural and political landscape in the early modern era. The artists trusted to portray the heads of prominent dynasties created works significant not only in the history of art but in the broader history of Europe. Their detailed style particularly suited a meticulous depiction of dress that carried a multitude of meanings to the portraits’ recipients. Works sent across the continent influenced not only fashion but how success and power were communicated in Western society.

This research also has a significant technical analysis component. Studying small-scale individual and collaborative replica works which utilize techniques contemporary to 16th c. painting, I am incorporating the development of  machine learning-based computationally assisted examination methodologies to seek to interpret the extent of the painters’ contributions and the stylistic similarities and differences between original works and copies. By developing, refining, and robustly testing these computational methods with my computational collaborators, I seek to contribute to a better understanding of a category of paintings that promisingly suggest a more collaborative and cooperative process within the body of European Renaissance portraiture.