Page "Sofonisba Anguissola" Paragraph 7

Amilcare Anguissola encouraged all his daughters ( Sofonisba, Elena, Lucia, Europa, Minerva and Anna Maria ) to cultivate and perfect their talents.

Four of the sisters ( Elena, Lucia, Europa and Anna Maria ) became painters, but Sofonisba was by far the most accomplished and renowned.

Elena abandoned painting to become a nun.

Both Anna Maria and Europa gave up art upon marrying, while Lucia Anguissola, the best painter of Sophonisba's sisters, died young.

The remaining sister, Minerva, became a writer and Latin scholar.

Asdrubale, Sophonisba's brother, studied music and Latin, but not painting.