La Vecchia Rimbambita Muove Riso alla Fanciuletta.
Engraving, circa 1550. 335x420 mm; 13 1/4x16 1/2 inches. Small coat-of-arms with a rampant lion watermark. Ex-collection Fritz Lugt (see Lugt 3031). Trimmed on the plate mark. A very good impression of this scarce engraving.
Bos, who was born in the Netherlands but spent the majority of his career in Rome, from around 1550-1580, as a reproductive engraver and map maker, based this work on a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Sofonisba Anguissola (circa 1532-1625).
Born to a modest, relatively poor noble family in Cremona, Anguissola's artistic talents were recognized from an early age and she worked with local artists before relocating to Rome in the 1540s (where she met and purportedly impressed no less than Michelangelo). Elizabeth of Valois, the Queen of Philip II of Spain, was an avid amateur painter, and in 1559 Anguissola was recruited to go to Madrid as her tutor, with the rank of lady-in-waiting. She later became an official court painter to the king, and adapted her style to the more formal requirements of official portraits for the Spanish court. Hollstein 13.
