Sofonisba is from the Punic name *Saphanba'al*. **Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625)** was the **first female painter of the Italian Renaissance to achieve major international reputation**. **Court painter to King Philip II of Spain**, she taught his queen Elisabeth of Valois. **Michelangelo praised her drawings and corresponded with her**; Anthony van Dyck visited her at 92 in Palermo and called the meeting one of the most important of his career. **Lived to be 93.**
**Subject of Prado's 2020 retrospective "A tale of two women painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana."**
Sofonisba reduces to nine — the number of first major female Renaissance painter.