Kauffmann, Angelica

PAINTER, ETCHER (SWITZERLAND)
BORN 30 Oct 1741, Chur, Graubünden - DIED 5 Nov 1807, Roma, Lazio
BIRTH NAME Kaufmann, Maria Anna Angelika Katharina
GRAVE LOCATION Roma, Lazio: Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, 1 Via Sant'Andrea delle Fratte

Angelica Kauffmann was the daughter of the painter Joseph Johann Kauffmann (1707-1782). She was a child prodigy and she assisted her father in painting backgrounds for his work from an early age. Soon she had her own commissions. She grew up in Schwarzenberg and her mother Cleophea Lutz taught her several languages. After her mother died she travelled in Austria and Italy with her father. In Italy she copied the Italian masters.

In 1765 she met Johann Winckelmann and in 1766 she was invited to London by Lady Wenthworth who accompanied her. She started painting portraits under the influence of Joshua Reynolds. Among her first sitters in London was the actor David Garrack. Her work was popular and commissions came from the courts in Naples, Russia and Austria. In 1768 she was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts. From 1769 to 1782 she exhibited at the Royal Academy every year.

Her first marriage to Count Frederick de Horn, a Swedish adventurer took place on 22 November 1767. After she found out he was an imposter who ran off with her money, she separated from him with the help of Reynolds. After his death the older Venetian painter Antonio Zucchi became her second husband in 1781. In 1782 her father died.

Not long after she married Zucchi they moved to Rome where she befriended Goethe and her home became a cultural meeting point. Her husband ran the household and gave her full opportunity to shine. Zucchi died in 1795. The last time she exhibited at the Royal Academy was in 1797. In 1807 she died in the Papal States, Rome. Canova acted as the director of her funeral that he based on Raphael's funeral. Two of her finest paintings accompanied the procession.

Related persons
• was pupil of Casanova, Giovanni Batista
• was a friend of Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
• painted Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
• met Winckelmann, Johann Joachim

Events
10/12/1768Foundation of the Royal Academy of Arts. George III signed a document that arranged the set up. The king had set the condition that Joshua Reynolds would be the preisdent and Reynolds agreed to this. The Royal Academy would have 40 members, 36 of them to be appointed by the king himself. New members would be elected by the sitting members. Until the twentieth century the co-founders Angelica Kaufmann and Mary Moser would be the only female members. A third of the original members came from abroad. 

Images

Grave monument for Angelica Kaufmann at the Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, Rome.
Picture by Androom (25 Jan 2010)

 

Self portrait by Angelica Kauffmann at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
Picture by Androom (28 Apr 2023)

 

"Self Portrait".
   (1781, Frankfurt-am-Main: Goethe-Museum)
 

"Henrietta Laura Pulteney".
   (c1777, Bath: Holburne Museum)
 

Sources
• Cavendish, Marshall, Meesters in de Schilderkunst 62, Reynolds, Martin Annable, 1997
Schilderkunst van A tot Z, REBO, Lisse, 1990
Angelica Kauffman - Wikipedia


Kauffmann, Ernst Friedrich

Published: 03 Nov 2013
Last update: 03 May 2023