Angelica Kauffman | |
|---|---|
 Self-portrait by Kauffman, 1770–1775 | |
| Born | Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann (1741-10-30)30 October 1741 |
| Died | 5 November 1807(1807-11-05) (aged 66) |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Neoclassicism |
| Spouses | |
| Father | Joseph Johann Kauffmann |
| Signature | |
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Maria Anna Angelika KauffmannRA (/ˈkaʊfmən/KOWF-mən; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English asAngelica Kauffman,[a] was a Swiss painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as ahistory painter, Kauffman was a skilled portraitist,landscape anddecoration painter. She was, along withMary Moser, one of two female painters among thefounding members of theRoyal Academy of Art in London in 1768.[2][3]
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Kauffman was born atChur inGraubünden, Switzerland.[6] Her family moved toMorbegno in 1742, then toComo in Lombardy in 1752 at that time under Austrian rule. In 1757, she accompanied her father toSchwarzenberg inVorarlberg/Austria, where her father was working for the local bishop.[7] Her father,Joseph Johann Kauffmann (1707–1782), was a relatively poor man but a skilled Austrian muralist and painter, who was often travelling for his work. He trained Angelica and she worked as his assistant, moving through Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Angelica, a child prodigy, rapidly acquired four languages from her mother, Cleophea Lutz (1717–1757): German, Italian, French and English.[8]
She also was a talented singer and showed talent as a musician. Angelica was forced to choose between opera and art. She quickly chose art as a Catholic priest told her that the opera was a dangerous place filled with "seedy people".[9] By her twelfth year she had already become known as a painter, with bishops and nobles sitting for her.
In 1757, her mother died and her father decided to move to Milan.[9] Later visits toItaly of long duration followed.[10][unreliable source?] Kauffman and her family moved to Florence in June 1762, where the young artist first discovered the painting style that was coined Neoclassical painting. In October, 1762, she became an elected member of theAccademia delle Arti del Disegno and an honorary member of the AccademiaClementina di Bologna.[11] Moving to Rome in January 1763, Kauffman was introduced to the British community. While learning more English and continuing her portraiture, a few months later the family moved again to Naples. There, Kauffman studied works by theOld Masters, and had her first painting sent to a public exhibition in London.[12] Later in 1763, she visitedRome, returning again in 1764. From Rome, she passed toBologna andVenice, everywhere feted for her talents and charm. Writing from Rome in August 1764 to his friend Franke,Winckelmann refers to her popularity; she was then painting his picture, a half-length; of which she also made anetching. She spoke Italian as well as German, he says, and expressed herself with facility in French and English – one result of the last-named accomplishment being that she became a popular portraitist for British visitors to Rome. "She may be styled beautiful," he adds, "and in singing may vie with our best virtuosi."[10][unreliable source?] In May 1765, she was elected to theAccademia di San Luca, submittingAllegory of Hope as herreception piece.[11] That same month her work appeared in England in an exhibition of theFree Society of Artists.[11] She moved to England shortly afterwards, and established herself as a leading artist.[9]
While in Venice, Kauffman was persuaded by Lady Wentworth, the wife of the British ambassador, to accompany her to London. Soon she lodged with a local surgeon's family, includingAnne Home. Her first work displayed in London was the portrait ofDavid Garrick, exhibited the year before her arrival in June, 1766.[13] The rank of Lady Wentworth opened society to her, and she was well received, with the royal family especially showing her great favour. Her firmest friend, however, was SirJoshua Reynolds. In his pocketbook, her name as "Miss Angelica" or "Miss Angel" appears frequently; and in 1766 hepainted her, a compliment which she returned by herPortrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds.[14] Another instance of her intimacy with Reynolds is to be found in her variation ofGuercino'sEt in Arcadia ego, a subject that Reynolds repeated a few years later in his portrait of Mrs Bouverie and MrsCrewe.[10]
In 1767, Kauffman was seduced by an imposter going by the nameCount Frederick de Horn, whom she married, but they separated the following year.[10][unreliable source?][15] It was probably owing to Reynolds's good offices that she was among the signatories to the petition to theKing for the establishment of theRoyal Academy. In its first catalogue of 1769, she appears with "R.A." after her name (an honour she shared with one other woman,Mary Moser); and she contributed theInterview ofHector andAndromache, and three other classical compositions.[16] She spent several months in Ireland in 1771, as a guest of theLord Lieutenant of Ireland,Viscount Townshend, and undertook a number of portrait commissions there. Her notable Irish portraits include those ofPhilip Tisdall, theAttorney General for Ireland, and his wife Mary, who acted as her patron, and ofHenry Loftus, 1st Earl of Ely and his family, including his niece Dorothea Monroe, the most admired Irish beauty of her time.[17] It appears that among her circle of friends wasJean-Paul Marat, then living in London and practising medicine, with whom she may have had an affair.[18][b]
Her friendship with Reynolds was criticized in 1775 by fellow AcademicianNathaniel Hone, who courted controversy in 1775 with his satirical pictureThe Conjurer.[c] It was seen to attack the fashion for Italian Renaissance art and to ridicule SirJoshua Reynolds, leading the Royal Academy to reject the painting. It also originally included a nude caricature of Kauffman in the top left corner, which he painted out after she complained to the academy. The combination of a little girl and an old man has also been seen as symbolic of Kauffman and Reynolds's closeness, age difference, and rumoured affair.[21][19]
From 1769 until 1782, Kauffman was an annual exhibitor with the Royal Academy, sending sometimes as many as seven pictures, generally on classical or allegoric subjects. One of the most notable wasLeonardo expiring in the Arms ofFrancis the First (1778).[22][unreliable source?][d]
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In 1773, she was appointed by the Academy with others to decorateSt Paul's Cathedral, a scheme that was never carried out, and, later, withBiagio Rebecca, painted the ceiling of the Academy's Council Room atSomerset House.[22] The work she created here between 1778 and 1780 are perhaps her greatest and most recognizable: a series of paintings, titledThe Elements of Art, depictingInvention,Design,Composition, andColoring. Kauffman's allegorical paintings represent the principles of academic art theory.[11]Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti, known as Joseph in England, celebrated the series of paintings as "executed with all that grace, elegance and accuracy which distinguish the best productions of this Extraordinary lady."[11] The Council Room, members of the academy, and depictions of Kauffman'sDesign andComposition can be seen inHenry Singleton's painting,The Royal Academicians in General Assembly (1795).
While Kauffman produced portraits, and self-portraits, she identified herself primarily as a history painter, an unusual designation for a woman artist in the 18th century.History painting was considered the most elite and lucrative category in academic painting during this time period and, under the direction ofSir Joshua Reynolds, the Royal Academy made a strong effort to promote it to a native audience more interested in commissioning and buying portraits and landscapes. Despite Kauffman's popularity in British society and her success there as an artist, she was disappointed by the relative apathy of the British towards history painting. Ultimately, she left Britain for Rome, where history painting was better established, held in higher esteem and patronized.[24]
History painting, as defined in academic art theory, was classified as the most elevated category. Its subject matter was the representation of human actions based on themes from history, mythology, literature, and scripture. This required extensive learning in biblical and Classical literature, knowledge of art theory and practical training that included the study of anatomy from the male nude. Most women were denied access to such training, especially the opportunity to draw from nude models; yet Kauffman managed to cross the gender boundary. She studied works from artists including Titian, Raphael, Correggio, Domenichino, and Guido Reni, and learned to depict male anatomy through copying drawings, engravings and plaster casts.[25] This can be seen in depictions of Kauffman, such as her painting titledDesign and aportrait byNathaniel Dance. The male figures in her artworks are seen as being more feminine than most painters would choose to display, which may be a result of her lack of formal training in male anatomy.
In 1781, after her first husband's death (she had long been separated from him), she marriedAntonio Zucchi (1726–1795), aVenetian artist then resident in England.[22][unreliable source?] Shortly afterwards, she retired to Rome, where she befriended, among others,Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; yet, always restive, she wanted to do more and lived for another 25 years with much of her old prestige intact.[22]
In 1782, Kauffman's father died, as did her husband in 1795. In 1794, she painted,Self-Portrait Hesitating Between Painting and Music, in which she emphasises the difficult choice she had faced in choosing painting as her sole career, in dedication to her mother's death.[8] She continued at intervals to contribute to the Royal Academy in London, her last exhibit being in 1797. After this, she produced little, and in 1807 she died in Rome, being honoured with a splendid funeral under the direction ofCanova. The entireAcademy of St Luke, with numerous ecclesiastics and virtuosi, followed her to her tomb inSant'Andrea delle Fratte, and, as at the burial ofRaphael, two of her best pictures were carried in procession.[22]
By the time of her death she had made herself what she considered to be a renowned artist. This explains why her funeral was directed by the well-known Neoclassical sculptorAntonio Canova. Canova designed her funeral based on the funeral of the Renaissance masterRaphael.[26]
By 1911, rooms decorated with her work were still to be seen in various places. AtHampton Court was a portrait of the duchess of Brunswick; in theNational Portrait Gallery, a self-portrait (NPG 430).[22][27]
There were other pictures by her in Paris, atDresden, in theHermitage atSt Petersburg, in theAlte Pinakothek atMunich, inKadriorg Palace,Tallinn (Estonia)[22][unreliable source?][28] and in theJoanneum Alte Galerie atGraz. The Munich example was another portrait of herself, and there was a third in theUffizi at Florence. A few of her works in private collections were exhibited among theOld Masters atBurlington House.[22][unreliable source?]
Kauffman is well known for the numerous engravings from her designs bySchiavonetti,Francesco Bartolozzi and others. Those by Bartolozzi especially found considerable favour with collectors.Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827), artist, patriot, and founder of a major American art dynasty, named several of his children after notable European artists, including a daughter, Angelica Kauffman Peale.[22][unreliable source?]
A biography of Kauffman was published in 1810 byGiovanni Gherardo De Rossi.[22][unreliable source?][29] The book was the basis of a romance byLéon de Wailly (1838), and it prompted the novel contributed byAnne Isabella Thackeray to theCornhill Magazine in 1875 entitledMiss Angel.[22][unreliable source?]
The English novelistMiranda Miller published a 2020 novel entitledAngelica, Paintress of Minds, which purports to be an autobiography written during Kauffman's last days in Rome.[30] TheHistorical Novel Society says of the book: "Kauffmann is presented as hard-working, loyal, kind, sometimes susceptible but more determined than she thinks she is."[31]
From September 2018 to August 2019, the Royal Academy hosted an exhibition bySarah Pickstone,An Allegory of Painting, which paid homage to works by Kauffman that the Academy had commissioned. Pickstone'sThe Rainbow reinterpreted Kauffman'sColour, withBelvedere a response to Kauffman'sDesign.[32]
TheAngelika Kauffmann Museum inSchwarzenberg,Vorarlberg (Austria) was established in 2007. This location is in the same area that her father called home. The annually changing exhibitions focus on different aspects and themes of her artistic work.[33] In the 2019 exhibitionAngelika Kauffmann – Unknown Treasures from Vorarlberg Private Collections, many of her paintings were shown to the public for the first time, as a large proportion of her oeuvre is owned by private collectors.[34] The museum is housed in the so-called "Kleberhaus", an old farmhouse (1556) in the typical architectural style of the region.[33]
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![Valentine Rescues Silvia from The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1789), oil on canvas, 61 3/4 in. x 87 in. (156.8 cm x 221 cm), Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Massachusetts [35]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aScene_from_(Kauffmann).jpg)
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![Antonio Zucchi [Kauffman's husband] (1781), oil on canvas, 76 x 63 cm., private collection](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAngelica_Kaufmann_Antonio_Zucchi.jpg)
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![Goethe [at 38 years] (1787), oil on canvas, 64 x 52 cm., Goethe-Nationalmuseum, Weimar](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aDer_junge_Goethe%2c_gemalt_von_Angelica_Kauffmann_1787.JPG)
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Dobson, Henry Austin (1911). "Kauffmann, Angelica". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 697–698.
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