The Pope bestowed rich gifts on Sofonisba, among which were sacred relics, set with gems.  He also wrote an autograph letter, still in existence, in which he assured her that much as he admired her skill in painting, he had been led to believe this the least of her many gifts.

Sofonisba soon gained the approval of the serious and solemn King, for while Philip was jealous of the French ladies of the court and desired Isabella to be wholly under Spanish influence, he proposed to the artist a marriage with one of his nobles, by which means she would remain permanently in the Queen’s household.  When Philip learned that Sofonisba was already betrothed to Don Fabrizio de Moncada—­a Sicilian nobleman—­in spite of his disappointment he joined Isabella in giving her a dowry of twelve thousand crowns and a pension of one thousand.

It would seem that one who could so soften the heart and manners of Philip II. as did Queen Isabella, must have had a charm of person and character that no ordinary mortal could resist.  One is compelled to a kindly feeling for this much-hated man, who daily visited the Queen when she was suffering from smallpox.  In her many illnesses he was tenderly devoted to her, and when we remember the miseries of royal ladies whose children are girls, we almost love Philip for comforting Isabella when her first baby was not a son.  Philip declared himself better pleased that she had given him a daughter, and made the declaration good by devotion to this child so long as he lived.

Isabella, in a letter to her mother, wrote:  “But for the happiness I have of seeing the King every day I should find this court the dullest in the world.  I assure you, however, madame, that I have so kind a husband that even did I deem this place a hundredfold more wearisome I should not complain.”

While Sofonisba was overwhelmed with commissions in Spain, her sisters were far from idle in Cremona.  Europa sent pictures to Madrid which were purchased for private collections, and a picture by Lucia is now in the Gallery of the Queen at Madrid.

When the time for Sofonisba’s marriage came she was sorry to leave her “second home,” as she called Madrid, and as Don Fabrizio lived but a short time, the King urged her return to Spain; but her desire to be once more with her family impelled her to return to Italy.

The ship on which she sailed from Sicily was commanded by one of the Lomellini, a noble family of Genoa, with whom Sofonisba fell so desperately in love that she offered him her hand—­which, says her biographer, “he accepted like a generous man.”  Does this mean that she had been ungenerous in depriving him of the privilege of asking for what she so freely bestowed?

In Genoa she devotedly pursued her art and won new honors, while she was not forgotten in Madrid.  Presents were sent her on her second marriage, and later the Infanta Clara Eugenia and other Spaniards of exalted rank visited her in Genoa.  Her palace became a centre of attraction to Genoese artists and men of letters, while many strangers of note sought her acquaintance.  She contributed largely to the restoration of art and literature to the importance that had been accorded them in the most brilliant days of Genoese power.