I’m back in high school, and in a good way. On occasion, my teacher would pull out a film projector, and we’d watch an educational film to joyous delight…not more lecturing for the day. Caroline Johnson Tuohey’s documentary short, Counter-Reformation, is an educational piece about a little-known artist (unless you’re in certain art circles), Sofonisba Anguissola, and her impact on the art world through portraiture, the Catholic Church, and the rise in female artists during the 1500s.
Counter-Reformation opens with a declaration: Sofonisba Anguissola was the first professional female court painter in Europe and the first painter to truly explore the self-portrait. Filmmaker Caroline Johnson Tuohey introduces Anguissola’s career through The Chess Game, painted in 1555. It features her three sisters locked in a game of chess. What makes the painting so striking is how modern it feels, then and now. It captures the sisters’ private world — their intellect, their rivalry, their humor — and, at the bottom of the chessboard, Sofonisba’s own signature announces her arrival into the ranks of professional painters. As Tuohey observes, the oldest sister barely masks her desire to control the board, while the younger ones don’t bother hiding it at all.
From there, the film moves into the religious war that shaped Sofonisba’s world. The Catholic Church, battered by the Protestant Reformation, convened the Council of Trent in 1545 to fight back. At stake for Sofonisba was the Protestant push to destroy sacred images — paintings depicting God, Christ, Mary, and others. It took twenty years and four popes, but in the final session, the Church made its stand: sacred images would be defended.
“Sofonisba Anguissola was the first professional female court painter in Europe and the first painter to truly explore the self-portrait.”
With the Church’s ruling, the floodgates opened for sacred painting and a new generation of female artists, including Lavinia Fontana, the first woman commissioned to paint an altarpiece, and Artemisia Gentileschi, who turned to Old Testament queens like Judith and Bathsheba for her subjects. Since women were barred from studying anatomy, they painted what they knew — themselves and their stories. Sofonisba went further still, painting not just herself but herself in the act of painting the Madonna, inserting the female artist directly into the sacred image at the exact moment the Church needed it most.
Though not credited, I’m assuming director Caroline Johnson Tuohey narrated Counter-Reformation. As I said in the beginning, Tuohey’s film is an educational piece on Sofonisba Anguissola’s impact on the art of portraiture. It’s also a reflective piece on how our religious foundation inspired her work. Almost as if to say, studying ourselves is akin to studying God. Sofonisba’s history is engaging and inspiring. Counter-Reformation also checks another box of the art documentary by showcasing a sampling of Sofonisba’s work. Her portraits are both haunting and spiritual, and Tuohey gets deep into the weeds in her critique of Sofonisba. Art is more than painting a picture; it is imbuing the subject with life, emotion, and spirit. The best part is that Counter-Reformation is just as much for the average layperson as it is for the art expert.
Counter-Reformation is a compact, richly layered documentary that makes a compelling case for an artist long overdue for a wider audience. Caroline Johnson Tuohey has crafted something rare — a short film that feels both like a history lesson and a personal confession, leaving you wanting to explore more of the woman who painted herself into history.
"…I'm back in high school, and in a good way."
