Family Audio Tour: Portrait of Prince Alessandro Farnese

This painting is not on display at the moment.

But, you can still listen to the audio and look at the picture at the top of this page, if you like!

Can you find Sofonisba Anguissola (c.1532–1625), Portrait of Prince Alessandro Farnese (1545–1592), later Duke of Parma and Piacenza, c.1560, in this room?

Listen to the audio

Continue on the tour

• The next painting – a landscape painting by Claude Monet – is hanging in Room 3.
• To get there, continue to the last room on this floor – Room 25.
• Once you are in Room 25:
  • You can turn right to take the lift down to Level 1. When you walk out of the lift, there is a big, black door to the right, on the same wall as the lift. Walk through this big door and you'll find the Monet in Room 3.
  • If you prefer to take the stairs, see if you can spot a small door in the far left corner of Room 25. Walk through this door and all the way down the concrete stairs to Level 1. Turn right, as if you are walking towards the exhibition ticket desk, and you'll see a big, black door on your left. Walk through this big door and you'll find the Monet in Room 3.
• Or, you can take another look at all the audio tracks and choose one you'd like to listen to next.

Transcript

Eoin [excited]:

I’ve found someone who looks about the same age as me! But, you’d never find me wearing shorts over white tights! [laughing]

Alessandro [Italian accent]:

Psst, do you think I can’t hear you? These are my very best clothes. My cape is made of precious silver thread and it’s lined with real fur to keep me warm – ermine fur no less. Only the most important people wear ermine – princes and kings!

Eoin:

Are you a prince?

Alessandro:

I am indeed: Prince Alessandro Farnese, grandson of the great King Charles the Fifth of Spain. I am Italian, but I live in Spain and I am fifteen years old. Most happy to make your acquaintance. 

Eoin:

I don’t mean to be rude but you look very grown up, in your smart clothes. 

Alessandro:

I stand like a king – with my shoulders back and head up high.

Eoin:

Don’t start, my mum’s always telling me not to slouch over my phone!

Íde [out of breath]:

Ah, there you are; I lost you. So you found Prince...

Eoin [interrupting]:

Prince Alessandro. He said hello – when no-one else was around, of course.

Íde:

That’s always how it is! [pause] The young Alessandro was painted over four hundred years ago by a woman artist called Sofonisba Anguissola. At that time, not many women could be artists – because they weren’t allowed to study art.

Eoin:

That’s not fair. 

Íde:

It isn’t, but Sofonisba proved to the world just how brilliant she was. She was from Italy but became a star all over Europe; she even worked for the King of Spain, where she painted this picture. 

Eoin:

I think she was an amazing painter. I love all the details, like the pearls on the hat; it’s like you’re zooming in on your phone. And the texture’s amazing too: you can imagine how all these fabrics felt: the fur all soft and the cloak stiffer. 

Íde:

She really was an incredible talent. But we must move on, to our next painting. 

Eoin:

Coming! [loudly, then whispering] Great to meet you, Alessandro!

Alessandro:

You too, dear friend, arrivederci caro amico! [voice fading into the distance]