The Chess Game

Sofonisba Anguissola’s The Chess Game portrays three of her younger sisters — Lucia, Europa, and Minerva — gathered around a chessboard in an intimate domestic scene. The youngest sister looks out toward the viewer with a knowing smile while her older sisters concentrate on the game. Painted when the artist was in her early twenties, it is an early and remarkable example of a genre scene by a woman artist, and it established Anguissola’s international reputation.