This noble lady of Cremona (born about 1530), was one of six sisters,
all amiable, and much distinguished in arts and letters. She displayed a
taste for drawing at a very early age, and soon became the best pupil in
the school of Antonio Campi. One of her early sketches, of a boy caught
with his hand in the claw of a lobster, with a little girl laughing at
his plight, was in possession of Vasari, and by him esteemed worthy of a
place in a volume which he had filled with drawings by the most famous
masters of that great age. Portraiture was her chief study; and Vasari
commends a picture which he saw at her father's house, of three of the
sisters, and an ancient housekeeper of the family playing at chess, as a
work "painted with so much skill and care, that the figures wanted only
voice to appear alive." He also praises a portrait which she painted of
herself, and presented to Pope Julius III., who died in 1555, which
shows that she must have attracted the notice of princes while yet in
her girlhood. At Milan, whither she accompanied her father, she painted
the portrait of the Duke of Sessa, the Viceroy, who rewarded her with
four pieces of brocade and various rich gifts.