Angelica Kauffmann (1741–1807) (after)
A Lady with a Dagger
Oil on canvas
H 34 x W 28.5 cm
Wigan Arts and Heritage Service
Angelica Kauffman
The Family of the Earl Gower, c. 1772
Oil on canvas
59 1/4 x 82 in
National Museum of Women in the Arts,
Granville Leveson-Gower (1721–1803), known as Viscount Trentham, the Earl Gower, and the first Marquess of Stafford, was a British politician. Kauffman depicts him as the patriarch of his large family, which has gathered in a park-like setting. The lyrical costumes, lyre, scroll, floral garlands, and marble bust, which bears a slight resemblance to the earl, all reference classical antiquity.
The earl’s son and heir, 14-year-old George Leveson-Gower, eventually the first Duke of Sutherland, carries a book to signal his erudition. The three youngest daughters form their own vignette, seemingly focused on the rites of spring and perhaps fertility and birth (Lady Susannah was pregnant in 1772), symbolized by the lamb. More on this painting
In 1757 she accompanied her father to Schwarzenberg in Vorarlberg/Austria where her father was working for the local bishop. Her father, Joseph Johann Kauffmann, was a skilled Austrian muralist and painter. He trained Angelica and she worked as his assistant, moving through Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Angelica, a child prodigy, rapidly acquired several languages. She also showed talent as a musician and was forced to choose between opera and art. She quickly chose art. By her twelfth year she had already become known as a painter, with bishops and nobles being her sitters.
Rowena was the daughter of the mythological Anglo-Saxon chief Hengist and wife of Vortigern, "King of the Britons". Presented as a beautiful femme fatale, she won her people the Kingdom of Kent through her treacherous seduction of Vortigern. More on this painting
In 1754, her mother died and her father decided to move to Milan. She became a member of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in 1762. Kauffman and her family moved to Florence in June 1762. 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 the Old Masters, and had her first painting sent to a public exhibition in London.
While in Venice, Kauffman was persuaded by Lady Wentworth, the wife of the British ambassador, to accompany her to London. One of the first pieces she completed in London was a portrait of David Garrick, exhibited in the year of her arrival at "Mr Moreing's great room in Maiden Lane." The rank of Lady Wentworth opened society to her, and she was everywhere well received, the royal family especially showing her great favour. Her firmest friend, however, was Sir Joshua Reynolds.
This painting depicts all but three of the foremost Academicians, as well as the Cantonese sculptor Tan-Che-Qua (who happened to be in London at that time) and the Academy’s first Professor of Anatomy, William Hunter.
Angelica Kauffman RA (1741 - 1807)
This allegorical figure represents Composition, symbolising one of the four elements of art. She rests her head on her hand as if deep in thought. She leans on the base of a column which supports a chess board as a symbol of an intellectual and strategic activity. The compass in her hand refers to the precision required in the first stages of making art. She sits on the boundary between nature and architecture, as Composition draws from both fields. On the left are sheets of paper and a pen alluding to the preparatory drawings an artist does in creating a composition. More on this painting
Angelica Kauffman RA (1741 - 1807)
Angelica Kauffman RA (1741 - 1807)
It was probably owing to Reynolds's good offices that she was among the signatories to the petition to the King for the establishment of the Royal 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 the Interview of Hector and Andromache (See below), and three other classical compositions.
Hector, son of the King of Troy, prepares to go to battle. He wears his plumed helmet and holds a spear. He stands hand-in-hand with Andromache, his devoted wife, in front the gates of Troy. A nurse is holding their son Astyanax. The child prefers to look into her eyes rather than towards his father, who is attired for war.
Angelica Kauffmann (1741–1807)
Angelica Kauffman RA (Chur 1741 – Rome 1807)
After his purported death Ulysses’s wife is pursued by suitors, as related in Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey. In an attempt to stave them off, Penelope prepares the bow, quiver and axes and arrows for the competition of whosoever could emulate her husband’s feat of shooting an arrow between twelve axe-rings placed in a row, she would marry. More on this painting
Angelica Kauffmann
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 a 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. It is unclear as to how she gained the knowledge of the male anatomy that she had, but there is speculation that she studied plaster casts of statues. The male characters 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 on male anatomy.
In 1781, after her first husband's death (she had long been separated from him), she married Antonio Zucchi (1728–1795), a Venetian artist then resident in England. 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.
A young woman dressed in an immaculate white dress stands between two figures who can be identified as the personifications of music and painting. The scene depicts the youthful dilemma of the Austro-Swiss artist, undecided about which of her two talents she should pursue. Most unusually for a woman at this period, Kauffman chose to become a painter and went on to establish a successful career in Britain. She was in her fifties when she produced the painting shown here and perhaps enjoyed looking back at her youthful self-determination. More on this painting
In 1782, Kauffman's father died, as did her husband in 1795. In 1794, she painted, Self-Portrait Hesitating Between Painting and Music (See above), in which she emphasizes the difficult choice she had faced in choosing painting as her sole career, in dedication to her mother's death. 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 honored by a splendid funeral under the direction of Canova. The entire Academy of St Luke, with numerous ecclesiastics and virtuosi, followed her to her tomb in Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, and, as at the burial of Raphael, two of her best pictures were carried in procession. More on Angelica Kauffman
Angelica Kauffman RA (Chur 1741 – Rome 1807)
Vortigern, King of Britain, enamoured with Rowena at the Banquet of Hengist, the Saxon General, c. 1769 - 1770
Oil on canvas
1537 x 2146 mm (60 1/2 x 84 1/2 in)
National Trust, Saltram, Devon
In 1754, her mother died and her father decided to move to Milan. She became a member of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in 1762. Kauffman and her family moved to Florence in June 1762. 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 the Old Masters, and had her first painting sent to a public exhibition in London.
She spoke Italian as well as German, 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.
Kauffmann, Angelica
Valentine, Proteus, Sylvia and Giulia in the Forest, c. 1788
Scene from "Two Gentlemen of Verona" Act V, Scene IV)
Oil on canvas
61 3/4 in. x 87 in. (156.8 cm x 221 cm)
Davis Museum at Wellesley College
Valentine sits alone in the forest. He hears shouts in the distance and hides. Proteus, Silvia, and Julia (still disguised as Sebastian) enter. Proteus pleads with Silvia to give him one kind glance as payment for rescuing her from the outlaws who would have "forced your honour and your love. Valentine overhears their discourse but decides to wait to reveal himself. Silvia tells Proteus that she would have preferred being eaten by a lion to being saved by him. She emphasizes her love for Valentine and her hatred for Proteus' willingness to betray his friend.
Proteus grows enraged at Silvia and moves to rape her. When Silvia cries out, Valentine angrily leaps out of the bushes and curses Proteus for his betrayal. Proteus begs for Valentine's forgiveness. Valentine immediately pardons Proteus and offers Silvia to him, at which point Sebastian faints. When Sebastian regains consciousness, he explains that he fainted because he forgot to give Proteus' ring to Silvia. Sebastian then produces two rings: that which Julia had given to Proteus, which he later intended for Silvia, and that which Proteus had given to Julia. When Proteus queries Sebastian on how he came to possess Julia's ring, Julia reveals her identity. Proteus immediately decides that Julia is more beautiful after all and decides to marry her instead of Silvia. More on Two Gentlemen of Verona
While in Venice, Kauffman was persuaded by Lady Wentworth, the wife of the British ambassador, to accompany her to London. One of the first pieces she completed in London was a portrait of David Garrick, exhibited in the year of her arrival at "Mr Moreing's great room in Maiden Lane." The rank of Lady Wentworth opened society to her, and she was everywhere well received, the royal family especially showing her great favour. Her firmest friend, however, was Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Johann Zoffany (1733–1810)
The Portraits of the Academicians of the Royal Academy, 1771-72
Oil on canvas
Royal Collection, London
The two portraits hanging on the wall are of Angelica Kauffmann and Mary Moser, the only female founding Academicians. Although there is no evidence that women were expressly forbidden from attending life-drawing classes, their physical absence from this painting suggest that it would have been deemed improper. More on this painting
In this later painting the Royal Academicians are meeting in a ‘General Assembly’ to judge which works by students should be awarded medals.
Henry Singleton (1766–1839)
The Royal Academicians in General Assembly, c. 1795
Oil on canvas
H 198.1 x W 259 cm
Royal Academy of Arts
In this later painting the Royal Academicians are meeting in a ‘General Assembly’ to judge which works by students should be awarded medals.
Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser are seen as relegated to the background. Singleton produced a rare naturalistic portrayal of Kauffman and Moser, assured and at ease among their male contemporaries and set by the painter at the apex of the arrangement of figures.’ As women, Kauffman and Moser did not in fact attend meetings of the General Assembly, so would not have been present. More on this painting
The ceiling includes Angelica Kauffman's paintings Design (See below) and Composition (See below).
Angelica Kauffman RA (1741 - 1807)
Design, c. 1778-80
Oil on canvas
Royal Academy of Arts
A female artist wearing working clothes intently studies a classical cast. She copies a cast of the Belvedere Torso, one of the best known classical sculptures, which is found in the Museo Pio-Clementino of the Vatican Museum, Rome. A cast of this figure is in the Royal Academy collection. During Kauffman's period, artists started their training by drawing casts and Kauffman would have trained in this way. Unlike her male colleagues however, Kauffman was unable to progress to the next stage of drawing from life models, as women were forbidden. Linberg writes that, although male artists frequently represented female bodies, it was rare for a woman to draw a male body – even an antique torso. More on this painting
Composition, c. 1778-80
Oil on canvas
Royal Academy of Arts
This allegorical figure represents Composition, symbolising one of the four elements of art. She rests her head on her hand as if deep in thought. She leans on the base of a column which supports a chess board as a symbol of an intellectual and strategic activity. The compass in her hand refers to the precision required in the first stages of making art. She sits on the boundary between nature and architecture, as Composition draws from both fields. On the left are sheets of paper and a pen alluding to the preparatory drawings an artist does in creating a composition. More on this painting
Invention, c. 1778-80
Oil on canvas
Royal Academy of Arts
A figure sits in a natural landscape with a celestial globe at her side. She is an allegorical figure, to represent Invention, or Genius as one of the four elements of art. The wings on her head and her raised arm suggest the elevation of intellect, which is required for invention. A rocky landscape with mountains in the background represents nature, which was considered the first invention. More on this painting
Colour, c. 1778-80
Oil on canvas
Royal Academy of Arts
An artist in a natural landscape reaches to a rainbow above her to collect colour with her paintbrush. In her other hand she holds a palette with a single daub of white paint. She represents Painting or Colour, as one of the elements of art. A chameleon at her feet represents the diverse colours found in nature. Her hair and dress are loose leaving the figure partially unclothed. She is seated on the edge of a wood with a rocky landscape and mountains behind her. More on this painting
Kauffman’s four above paintings collectively represent the ‘Elements of Art’: Invention, Composition, Design and Colour. They represent Joshua Reynold’s theories in his Discourses on Art, given in lectures at the Royal Academy and later published in 1788.
In Design and Colour the figures are physically engaged in the act of creation whereas in Composition and Invention the figures are engaged in reflection. In Invention the figure looks to the sky for inspiration and in Composition she is deep in thought with her head in her hands. When displayed in the ceiling, the paintings are paired, with one practical and one theoretical at each side of the room. More on the elements of art
Angelica Kauffman RA (Chur 1741 – Rome 1807)
Hector taking leave of Andromache
Oil on canvas
1575 x 2010 x 75 mm
National Trust, Saltram, Devon
Angelica Kauffman sent this Homeric painting to the inaugural exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1769. Hector Taking Leave of Andromache depicts a famous episode from the Homer’s great epic The Iliad. Here, Kauffman explores her trademark interests in masculine heroism and feminine fortitude, and in the conflicts between public duty and private life. She depicts the moment in Homer’s tale when the doomed Trojan hero, Hector, heading for battle, bids a reluctant, lingering but ultimately steadfast farewell to his wife Andromache and their child, Astyanax. Such paintings fused the weighty storylines of heroic sacrifice with more intimate and domestic narratives of farewell. More on this painting
Diomed and Cressida (from William Shakespeare's 'Troilus and Cressida', Act V, Scene ii), c. 1789
Oil on canvas
H 158 x W 222 cm
National Trust, Petworth House
The scene is taken from Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, Act V, scene II, outside the tent of Calchas, where the meeting of Diomedes and Cressida is witnessed by Troilus, Ulysses and Thersites. More on Diomed and Cressida
Venus directing Aeneas and Achates to Carthage
Oil on canvas
1270 x 1016 mm (50 x 40 in)
National Trust, Saltram, Devon
Aeneas’s mother, the goddess Venus, disguised as a huntress, with a bow and quiver on her back, has appeared to direct Aeneas, and his faithful companion, Achates to the city of Carthage and Queen Dido. The two Trojan warriors have survived a storm, after the Sack of Troy and have arrived on the coast of Africa. The scene is from an episode in the first book of Virgil’s epic poem the Aeneid. More on this painting
Manner of Angelica Kauffmann
Mercury Leading Psyche Through A Wood
Oil on panel
61 x 94 cm
Private collection
The mythological story of Psyche, who was granted immortality after many trials and is taken by Mercury, the messenger of the gods, to Olympus in order that she may marry her beloved, Cupid,
Angelica Kauffmann
Ulysses on the Island of Circe, c. 1793
Oil on canvas
115 × 155 cm
Private collection
Angelica Kauffman RA (Chur 1741 – Rome 1807)
Penelope sacrificing to Minerva for the Safe Return of her Son, Telemachus
Oil on canvas
1499 x 1264 mm (59 x 49 3/4 in)
National Trust, Stourhead, Wiltshire
Penelope, accompanied by her attendants, is invoking the aid of Minerva (or Athene), represented by a statue standing on a round plinth. Telemachus, accompanied by Minerva, disguised as his old guardian Mentor, had set out to find his father, Ulysses, after he did not return home from the Trojan wars but he also got waylaid and his mother is praying for his return.
The scene is told in Homer’s Odyssey but the artist may have been using François Fénélon’s Les Aventures de Télémaque, published in 1699 as a source when she painted the picture in 1774. More on this painting
A major source for Kauffman and other eighteenth-century painters on the moral and political education of Odysseus's son was The Adventures of Telemachus by François Fénelon (1651–1715), first published in 1699. Another popular reference was the translation of the ancient Greek epic by Alexander Pope (1688–1744), which initially appeared in 1725–26. More on this painting
Angelica Kauffman, Swiss, 1741 - 1807
TELEMACHUS IN SPARTA, c. 1773
Telemachus at the Court of Sparta Discovered by His Grief on the Mention of His Father's Suffering
Oil on paper laid down on canvas
12 1/8 × 16 1/8 in. (30.8 × 41 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College
Telemachus searching for his father, the young man is portrayed at the court of King Menelaus of Sparta. Menelaus has just informed Odysseus's son that his father is alive but held captive on Calypso's island. The picture relates to a large history painting of the same subject that Kauffman exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1773. More on this painting
Angelica Kauffmann (1741–1807)
Telemachus and the Nymphs of Calypso, c. 1782
Oil on canvas
Height: 82.6 cm (32.5 in); Width: 112.4 cm (44.2 in)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Kauffmann’s subjects are taken from François Fénelon’s romance The Adventures of Telemachus, first published in 1699. In this painting, Telemachus and his companion, Mentor, who have been washed ashore, are welcomed by Calypso and her nymphs.
This painting and its pendant were executed in Rome for Monsignor Onorato Caetani, who in the same year had his portrait painted by Kauffmann. His later portraits by Mengs in 1779 and Batoni in 1782 attest to the tight-knit, international character of eighteenth-century Roman intellectual circles. More on this painting
Angelica Kauffmann (Swiss, Chur 1741–1807 Rome)
The Sorrow of Telemachusc. 1783
Oil on canvas
32 3/4 x 45 in. (83.2 x 114.3 cm)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Kauffmann’s subjects are taken from François Fénelon’s romance The Adventures of Telemachus, first published in 1699. In this painting, Calypso motions her nymphs to be silent when their songs about Telemachus’s father, Ulysses, cause him sorrow. More on this painting
Angelica Kauffman RA (Chur 1741 – Rome 1807)
Penelope taking down the Bow of Ulysses, c. 1768
Oil on canvas
1270 x 1016 mm (50 x 40 in )
National Trust, Saltram, Devon
After his purported death Ulysses’s wife is pursued by suitors, as related in Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey. In an attempt to stave them off, Penelope prepares the bow, quiver and axes and arrows for the competition of whosoever could emulate her husband’s feat of shooting an arrow between twelve axe-rings placed in a row, she would marry. More on this painting
After Angelica Kauffmann
The Return of Telemachus
Oil on canvas
39 3/4 by 50 in.
Private collection
Penelope Waken by Eurykleia, c. 1772
Oil on canvas
Vorarlberger Landesmuseum, Bregenz.
The old woman, Eurykleia, clambered upstairs, chuckling aloud as she went, to tell her mistress her beloved husband was home. Her knees were working away, though she tottered as she went. She stood by the bed and spoke to her lady, saying: ‘Penelope, dear child, wake and see with your own eyes what you’ve longed for all this time. Odysseus is here, he is home after so many years. He has killed all the proud Suitors who plagued the house, wasted his stores, and bullied his son.’ More on Penelope Waken by Eurykleia
Her friendship with Reynolds was criticized in 1775 by fellow Academician Nathaniel Hone, who courted controversy in 1775 with his satirical picture The Conjurer. It was seen to attack the fashion for Italian Renaissance art and to ridicule Sir Joshua 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.
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 was Leonardo expiring in the Arms of Francis the First (1778).
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 of Sir 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 the popularity that Kauffman enjoyed 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.
Circle Angelica Kauffmann
Abraham casts out his concubine Hagar and their son Ishmael
Oil on canvas
90 x 72 cm
Private collection
Hagar is a biblical person in the Book of Genesis Chapter 16. She was an Egyptian handmaid of Sarah, who gave her to Abraham "to wife" to bear a child. The product of the union was Abraham's firstborn, Ishmael, the progenitor of the Ishmaelites.
After Sarah gave birth to Isaac, and the tension between the women returned. At a celebration after Isaac was weaned, Sarah found the teenage Ishmael mocking her son, and demanded that Abraham send Hagar and her son away. She declared that Ishmael would not share in Isaac's inheritance. Abraham was greatly distressed but God told Abraham to do as his wife commanded because God's promise would be carried out through both Isaac and Ishmael.
The name Hagar originates from the Book of Genesis, and is only alluded to in the Qur'an. She is considered Abraham's second wife in the Islamic faith and acknowledged in all Abrahamic faiths. In mainstream Christianity, she is considered a concubine to Abraham. More on Hagar
Angelica Kauffmann (1741–1807)
Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well, c.1796
Oil on canvas
Height: 123.5 cm (48.6 in); Width: 158.5 cm (62.4 in)
Neue Pinakothek
Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.. Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink', you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." More on the Samaritan woman
Angelica Kauffmann
Saint Mary of Egypt, c. 1807
Oil on canvas
30¼ x 25½ in. (77 x 64.8 cm.)
Private collection
Mary of Egypt, also known as Maria Aegyptica, was born somewhere in Egypt, and at the age of twelve she ran away from her parents to the city of Alexandria. Here she lived an extremely dissolute life. In her Vita it states that she often refused the money offered for her sexual favors, as she was driven "by an insatiable and an irrepressible passion," and that she mainly lived by begging, supplemented by spinning flax.
After seventeen years of this lifestyle, she traveled to Jerusalem for the Great Feasts of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. She undertook the journey as a sort of "anti-pilgrimage," stating that she hoped to find in the pilgrim crowds at Jerusalem even more partners in her lust. She paid for her passage by offering sexual favors to other pilgrims. She tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the celebration, she was barred from doing so by an unseen force. Realizing that this was because of her impurity, she was struck with remorse, and upon seeing an icon of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary) outside the church, she prayed for forgiveness and promised to give up the world (i.e., become an ascetic). Then she attempted again to enter the church, and this time was permitted in. After venerating the relic of the true cross, she returned to the icon to give thanks, and heard a voice telling her, "If you cross the Jordan, you will find glorious rest." The next morning, she crossed the Jordan and retired to the desert to live the rest of her life as a hermit in penitence.
Approximately one year before her death, she recounted her life to Saint Zosimas of Palestine, who unexpectedly met her in the desert, she was completely naked and almost unrecognizable as human. She narrated her life's story to him, manifesting marvellous clairvoyance. She asked him to meet her the following year, and bring her Holy Communion. When he fulfilled her wish, she crossed the river to get to him by walking on the surface of the water. The next year, Zosimas travelled to the same spot where he first met her, and found her lying there dead. He buried her body with the assistance of a passing lion. More Mary of Egypt
Manner of Angelica Kauffmann
Saint Agnes and Agatha Surrounded by Five Female Saints including Saints Lucy and Apollonia
Oil on copper
23 x 33 cm.
Private collection
Agnes was a popular saint about whom little is known, Agnes is said to have been a beautiful, wealthy Roman maiden who had, in childhood, dedicated herself to God. Some say that a rejected suitor betrayed her to authorities; others say that she was asked at 13 to sacrifice to the gods and marry, both of which she refused. Legends tell of her being thrown into a brothel, where her purity was miraculously preserved. Having escaped that fate, she was martyred. Her emblem in art is the lamb because of the similarity between her name and the Latin word for lamb, agnus. More on Agnes of Rome
Saint Agatha of Sicily (231 AD – 251 AD) is a Christian saint and virgin martyr. Agatha was born at Catania or Palermo, Sicily, and she was martyred in approximately 251. She is one of seven women, who, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass.
Amongst the tortures she underwent was the cutting off of her breasts with pincers. More on Saint Agatha of Sicily
Lucy was a victim of the wave of persecution of Christians that occurred late in the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian. References to her are found in early Roman sacramentaries and, at Syracuse, in an inscription dating from 400 ce. As evidence of her early fame, two churches are known to have been dedicated to her in Britain before the 8th century, at a time when the land was largely pagan. More Saint Lucy
Saint Apollonia was one of a group of virgin martyrs who suffered in Alexandria during a local uprising against the Christians prior to the persecution of Decius. According to legend, her torture included having all of her teeth violently pulled out or shattered. For this reason, she is popularly regarded as the patroness of dentistry and those suffering from toothache or other dental problems.
Tongs (sometimes with a tooth in them), depicted holding a cross or martyr's palm or crown More on Saint Apollonia
After Angelica Kauffmann
A Sibyl of Antiquity
Oil on canvas
40" x 29"
Private collection
The sibyls were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece.[1][2] The earliest sibyls, according to legend, prophesied at holy sites.[3] Their prophecies were influenced by divine inspiration from a deity, originally at Delphi and Pessinos. In Late Antiquity, various writers attested to the existence of sibyls in Greece, Italy, the Levant, and Asia Minor. More on sibyls
Angelica Kauffmann
FLORA
Oil on canvas
30 by 25 in.; 76.2 by 63.5 cm
Private collection
In Roman mythology, Flora was a Sabine-derived goddess of flowers and of the season of spring – a symbol for nature and flowers (especially the may-flower). While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses, her association with the spring gave her particular importance at the coming of springtime, as did her role as goddess of youth. Her Greek counterpart was Chloris. More on Flora
Circle Angelica Kauffmann
Una and the Lion, circa 1770 - 1780
Oil on paper on canvas
50.5 × 61 cm
Private collection
This painting was inspired by Edmund Spenser’s sixteenth-century poem The Faerie Queen. In the poem, Una is the beautiful young daughter of a king and queen who have been imprisoned by a ferocious dragon. Una undertakes a quest to free her parents, but on her journey she encounters a fierce lion. The lion is so captivated by Una’s innocence and beauty that he abandons his plan to eat her, and vows instead to become her protector and companion.
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 a 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. It is unclear as to how she gained the knowledge of the male anatomy that she had, but there is speculation that she studied plaster casts of statues. The male characters 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 on male anatomy.
Follower Angelica Kauffmann
Portrait of a Grecian Nude
Oil on canvas
39 x 36 in (99 x 91.4 cm)
Private collection
Angelica Kauffman RA (Chur 1741 – Rome 1807)
Self-portrait of the Artist hesitating between the Arts of Music and Painting
Oil on canvas
1800 x 2490 x 185 mm
National Trust Collection, Nostell Priory, West
In 1782, Kauffman's father died, as did her husband in 1795. In 1794, she painted, Self-Portrait Hesitating Between Painting and Music (See above), in which she emphasizes the difficult choice she had faced in choosing painting as her sole career, in dedication to her mother's death. 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 honored by a splendid funeral under the direction of Canova. The entire Academy of St Luke, with numerous ecclesiastics and virtuosi, followed her to her tomb in Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, and, as at the burial of Raphael, two of her best pictures were carried in procession. More on Angelica Kauffman
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