"Then in 2024, Michael Cole of Columbia University, who had written a "superb" monograph on the artist, delivered a lecture on Italian art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Titled "Sofonisba Anguissola: Recent Discoveries and Debates," the lecture was broadcast on YouTube. The owners of the painting watched the talk and, knowing that the portrait they had inherited years ago was signed by Sofonisba, reached out to the professor."
"Over email, he told me that the painting had been known only through an old black-and-white photo at the Frick Art Reference Library. "I was initially approached to value the painting and to consult on its conservation, provenance, and proper framing. In the end, the owners decided to sell the painting, and I am acting as their agent in bringing it to a wider audience," Simon said."
A rare 1552 Portrait of a Canon Regular by Sofonisba Anguissola depicts a preacher with his raised hand resting on an open bible. The painting was unexpectedly discovered in a private collection in Durham, North Carolina, after experts believed it might be lost. The work is one of fewer than twenty signed paintings by Anguissola and had been known only through an old black-and-white photograph at the Frick Art Reference Library. Michael Cole's 2024 lecture led the owners to contact him about the signed portrait. Robert Simon is acting as the owners' agent to bring the painting to a wider audience at the Winter Show.
Read at Artnet News
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