Good News. Good News. 12•2•26

The Good News

Honestly, we couldn't do it to you. Not this week, I think we're all feeling overwhelmed by all the bad news in the world at the moment and have a sense it could get worse. So here's two pieces of good news.

The Good News

Throughout history women artists have battled just to be recognised. So when one finally rises to prominence with her signature on the canvas, losing her work becomes a tragedy.

In 1920, a woman's painting was photographed in black and white then vanished without trace.

104 years later, art historian Michael Cole posted a YouTube lecture about the illustrious Renaissance portrait painter Sofonisba Anguissola of Cremona. In Durham, North Carolina, a pair of art collectors happened to watch. Something stirred. They thought they might own an Anguissola.

They called Cole. Would he fly to Durham for a closer look?

There, he confirmed it: Portrait of a Canon Regular, lost since that 1920 photograph was found.

Anguissola painted it when she was just 20 years old—a priest mid-sermon, preaching from the Gospel of St. John, with a ghostly haloed eagle (St. John's avatar) hovering over his shoulder.

If you've never heard of Sofonisba Anguissola, here's Giorgio Vasari, the 16th-century Renaissance biographer:

"[Anguissola] worked with deeper study and greater grace than any woman of our times at problems of design. She has not only learnt to draw, paint and copy from nature... but has on her own painted some most rare and beautiful paintings."

Born into Cremona nobility, Anguissola was encouraged by her father to study painting as a child. After painting strikingly lifelike portraits in Italy, she was commissioned as lady-in-waiting to Elisabeth, Queen of Spain. At the Spanish court, she produced dozens of royal portraits whilst teaching the royal children art. Her iconic depiction of Philip II still hangs in the Prado.

She married Orazio Lomellino, brother of the Viceroy of Sicily, who loved her devotedly. She lived to 93. When she died, the widowed Orazio carved this on her tomb:

To Sofonisba, my wife, who is recorded amongst the illustrious women of the world, outstanding in portraying the images of man. Orazio Lomellino, in sorrow for the loss of his great love, dedicated this little tribute to such a great woman.

The Spanish court role constrained Anguissola's creativity; each portrait had to conform to the same style. That makes her pre-Madrid works especially valued. Portrait of a Canon Regular is one of only 20 Anguissola canvases bearing her signature.

Which is why Sofoniba's painting, made its public debut this January at the Winter Show art fair at Manhattan's Park Avenue Armoury with a staggering price tag of $450,000!

The Good News

A woman won the Super Bowl!

Jody Allen hoisted the Lombardi trophy Sunday night after her Seattle Seahawks crushed the Patriots 29-13. It was brilliant. It was triumphant. And it might be her last moment in the spotlight — because she's about to sell the team and donate everything to charity.

Let that sink in: She just won the Super Bowl specifically to maximise the sale price for charity.

The 67-year-old inherited the Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers when her brother Paul Allen (Microsoft co-founder, worth $20 billion) died in 2018. His will had one instruction: sell everything and fund charitable foundations.

So what did Jody do?

She decided to win first.

Since taking over, she's:

• Sacked the legendary Pete Carroll (respectfully)

• Hired Mike Macdonald as head coach

• Led the team to 27 wins in two seasons

• Won the bloody Super Bowl

• All while quietly overseeing $1 billion in charitable giving since 1988

Last month alone: $8 million to conservation projects. November: $7 million to Seattle artists. She co-founded the Allen Institute for bioscience research. She's founding director of Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture. The list goes on.

The Trail Blazers? Already sold for an estimated $4 billion last September—straight to charity.

The Seahawks, bought for $197 million in 1997, are now worth several billion more after Sunday's win. Every penny: charity. Arts, education, environment, the Pacific Northwest.

When asked about selling in 2022, she said:

"Estates of this size and complexity can take 10 to 20 years to wind down. There is no preordained timeline by which the teams must be sold. Until then, my focus—and that of our teams—is on winning."

That's not just philanthropy. That's strategic, patient, winning-focused philanthropy with a Super Bowl ring on top.

The matriarchy is winning. Literally.