In the article, one of her paintings is A Portrait of the Artist's Sisters Playing Chess and there's something about their facial features and expressions that seem almost photorealistic, in an odd way. I was caught off guard and found myself staring at the painting for a good while: shorturl.at/dkAQ7

I've seen a number of paintings from that time period and a few hundred years after where the subjects are artistically styled, but I have a tough time imagining the subject "walking around in the modern world" and looking like someone I know. Take this painting by da Vinci, for instance: shorturl.at/dsMV3 The subject is beautifully lit and painted, but the subject doesn't seem like someone I'd see walking around today and as a result I'm disconnected from her.

> "They appear alive,” wrote Renaissance art critic Giorgio Vasari [of Sofonisba's painting]"

They do, indeed.