THE MOST CULTIVATED WOMAN IN EUROPE.” This was the accolade bestowed “ upon Swiss 18th century artist Angelica Kauffman in her lifetime but, today, many may not recognise her name. A welcome retrospective at the Royal Academy – of which she was a founder member – hopes to remedy this, retracing her life in an exhibition encompassing years as a child prodigy to her career as one of Europe’s most acclaimed Neoclassical artists, celebrated for her portraits, historical paintings, engravings and interior designs.
Born in Chur, Switzerland in 1741, Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann was passionate about both art and music as a girl, encouraged by her enlightened artist father for whom she worked as an assistant as they travelled Europe. Kauffman gained useful proficiency in several languages because of this itinerant lifestyle. After her mother’s early demise, she devoted herself wholeheartedly to the (1794) painted in Rome as an adult. Assistant curator Rebecca Bray and curator Annette Wickham rate this “one of the most impressive [of her works] where she looked back on her choice to pursue a career as an artist instead of becoming a musician, painting this moment as though with the grandeur of a scene from history or mythology.”
