Portrait of Marquess Massimiliano Stampa  1557

The boy can be identified as the nine-year-old Massimiliano Stampa, third marquess of the small northern Italian city of Soncin, on the basis of a contemporary annotation on the back of the canvas. This is Sophonisba Anguissola's first major commission. The family commissioned it to commemorate the boy's inheritance of his title in 1557, at his father's death. Anguissola w...