International Women’s Day 2026
- vidya.birkhoff
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Each year I create a painting to commemorate International Women's Day, often focusing on women from my homeland of Trinidad and Tobago who have accomplished remarkable achievements and helped shape our cultural and social landscape.
This year, with limited time and materials, I’ve had to approach the project in a new way. Yet the theme for 2026, “Give to Gain,” feels especially meaningful. It calls us into a mindset of generosity, collaboration, and reciprocity with the understanding that when women support and elevate one another, we accelerate gender equality in significant ways.
As I began searching for women in history who embodied this spirit, I stumbled upon the remarkable story of Sofonisba Anguissola, widely regarded as the first female Renaissance artist to achieve international fame. Because I am currently studying portraiture, I’ve decided to replicate one of her self-portraits as an exercise.
Sofonisba Anguissola was born in1532 in Cremona, Italy, to a relatively poor family. Unlike many girls of her time, she received a well-rounded education that included training in the fine arts. As a young artist, she travelled to Rome and was introduced to Michelangelo, who quickly recognized her extraordinary talent and encouraged her artistic development. This recognition eventually led to one of the most significant opportunities of her life. The Spanish queen, Elizabeth of Valois, was an amateur painter, and recruited Anguissola as her tutor, with the rank of lady-in-waiting. At the Spanish court, Sofonisba not only tutored the queen in painting but also developed her own career. She later became an official court painter to Philip II of Spain, adapting her style to the more formal requirements of royal portraiture.
Sofonisba later married and moved to Sicily and eventually settled in Pisa and Genoa, where she continued working as a respected and sought-after portrait painter.
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