The Chess Game

Sofonisba Anguissola was 23. She painted her three younger sisters — Lucia, Minerva, Europa — and their servant playing chess in the family garden. Lucia has just won; Minerva raises her hand in shock; Europa laughs; the servant watches. It is one of the earliest Western paintings of an intimate family moment, and the first known depiction of women playing chess in European painting. Anguissola was the first Renaissance woman to have an international career. She lived to 93. Van Dyck visited her when she was 92 and said he learned more from that visit than from any master. Now at Muzeum Narodowe w Poznaniu, Poznań @muzeum_narodowe_poznan