copied by many of the finest artists of the time, such as Peter Paul Rubens, while Caravaggio allegedly took inspiration from Anguissola's work for his Boy Bitten by a Lizard. Anguissola is significant to feminist art historians. Although there has never been a period in Western history in which women were completely absent in the visual arts, Anguissola's great success opened the way for larger numbers of women to pursue serious careers as artists; Lavinia Fontana expressed in a letter written in 1579 that she and another woman, Irene di Spilimbergo, had “set [their] heart[s] on learning how to paint” after seeing one of Anguissola's portraits. Some of her more well-known successors include Lavinia Fontana, Barbara Longhi, Fede Galizia and Artemisia Gentileschi. A Cremonese school bears the name Liceo Statale Sofonisba Anguissola. American artist Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827) named his daughter Sophonisba Angusciola (1786–1859; married name Sellers). She became a painter and a quilter whose works are in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Crater On 4 August 2017 a crater on Mercury was named after her. Recent exhibits 2019-2020: Anguissola, along with Lavinia Fontana, was the focus of a major exhibit entitled “A Tale of Two Women Painters” at the Museo del Prado, Madrid. See also Maria Kusche Notes Bibliography Further reading Fredrika Jacobs, "Woman's capacity to create: The unusual case of Sofonisba Anguissola", ibid., pp. 74–101 Sofonisba Anguissola: A Renaissance Woman, exh. cat., National Museum of Women in Arts, Washington, DC, 1995 Charles de Tolnay, "Sofonisba Anguissola and her relations with Michelangelo", Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, iv, 1941, pp. 115–19 Flavio Caroli, Sofonisba Anguissola e le sue sorelle, Milan: Mondadori, 1987 Mary Garrard, "Here's looking at me: Sofonisba Anguissola and the problem of the woman artist", Renaissance Quarterly, xlvii, 1994, pp. 556–622 Francesco Giordano, Sofonisba Anguissola: una vita per la pittura, I Paternesi de La Sicilia, Catania 29 giugno 2006 Francesco Giordano, Sofonisba Anguissola a Paternò, Ricerche-C.R.E.S. Centro di ricerca economica e scientifica, Catania Anno 12 – N.1, 2008 Novels based on her life (a novel on Sofonisba Anguissola's life). DiGiuseppe, Donna. 2019. Lady in Ermine — The Story of a Woman Who Painted The Renaissance: A Biographical Novel of Sofonisba Anguissola. Bagwin Books. Pierini, Giovanna. 2018. [La dama con il ventaglio] (in Italian). Milano. Electa. Montani, Chiara. [Sofonisba. I ritratti dell'anima] (In Italian). Como. Il Ciliegio Edizioni. Vihos, Lisa. 2022.The Lone Snake: The Story of Sofonisba