Explore the History of this artwork, The Game of Chess (Sofonisba Anguissola).
Giorgio Vasari, visiting Cremona, was a guest in the house of Amilcare Anguissola and there admired paintings by Amilcare's daughters. About The Game of Chess he wrote, "I have seen this year in Cremona, in the house of her father a painting made with much diligence, the depiction of his three daughters, in the act of playing chess, and with them an old housemaid, done with such diligence and facility, that they appear alive, and the only thing missing is speech." This is the oldest document that mentions this painting, which remained hanging in the Anguissola family house for several years.The painting later arrived in Rome, together with the Self Portrait at a Spinet, and two of Anguissola's drawings (Child Bitten by a Lobster and another unidentified drawing) in the holdings of the humanist and collector Fulvio Orsini. They were then inherited by Cardinale Odoardo Farnese. The Game of Chess then turned up in Naples, after the Farnese inheritance had passed to the Bourbons, and it was eventually acquired by Luciano Bonaparte. It changed hands once more after this and arrived in the collection that today forms part of the National Museum in Poznań, Poland.
Three engravings based on this painting are known.
The painting has undergone evident repaintings.
Child Bitten by a Lobster Giorgio Vasari Fulvio Orsini Luciano Bonaparte Odoardo Farnese Self Portrait at a Spinet National Museum in Poznań Poznań