X.
ANGELICA KAUFMANN.
The name of Angelica Kaufmann has outlived the celebrity of her works. most of us have heard enough of her to know that she was in her day an artist of note; but few besides those who have read the charming romance of "Miss Angel," which Mrs. Richmond Ritchie (Miss Thackeray) has founded upon her career, know or care to know much more. Some of her pictures, but chiefly those which she considered as of minor importance, are still popular in the form of engravings and photographs; but the originals are little cared for, and hold, in the opinion of critics, by no means so high a place as was once awarded them.
The truth seems to be that, although she was a painstaking and gifted artist, deserving of recognition, the extent and duration of her fame are due rather to her precocity, her sex, and her attractive personality, than to the merit of her work.
Maria Anne Angelica Catharine Kaufmann—she was well provided with names—was born at Coire, in Switzerland, October 30, 1741. She was the daughter of John Joseph Kaufmann, an artist of limited reputation. He was one of those artists who, if his own paintings were mediocre, was an excellent teacher. Very early in life she displayed a marked inclination for music and painting, and her father cultivated these tastes to the uttermost. Her instruction in art and its theories was, under his care, exceptionally thorough, and she proved herself an apt and diligent pupil. While still a child she was deep in the mysteries of light and shade, of perspective and coloring, working many hours a day and delighting in the ever-increasing mastery which she obtained over her pencil and brush. Her progress at this stage of her career was indeed extraordinary. Nor were the other elements of her education neglected. She studied all the ordinary branches, acquired several languages, read history and poetry with an eagerness and intelligence beyond her years, while of music she made a serious pursuit, devoting to it nearly as much time as to painting. Yet in spite of this unusual mental activity she preserved her health and her simplicity, retaining all the frankness and grace of ordinary childhood.
While residing with her father at Morbegno before she was twelve years of age, the Bishop of Como, who had heard of her talents, came to see her and examined some of her works. Her youth, her beauty, and her modesty so pleased him that he desired to sit to her for his portrait, and this important commission she did not hesitate to undertake. She executed it, moreover, with promptitude and success, fully satisfying the prelate and his friends, who spread the fame of the achievement far and wide. She became the fashionable artist of the moment, orders showered upon her from all sides, and the Duke of Modena became her patron. A portrait of Cardinal Roth, painted shortly afterwards, was still more admired and revealed a great advance in skill. All this occurred before she had ceased to be a child.
At Milan, whither she removed at the age of fifteen, she was placed under the most famous masters of the day and continued her studies with unabated eagerness. Later she traversed Italy, visiting Bologna, Venice, and Rome, feted, admired, and made much of wherever she went.
Winckelmann, who met her at Rome, writes of her to his friend Franke, describing her "popularity, her pleasing manners, and her interesting conversation, which she carried on with equal fluency in Italian, German, French, or English.
"She may be styled beautiful," he says, "and in singing may vie with our best virtuosi."
Her voice was excellent and well trained; indeed, she had become so proficient in music that when, at twenty, she made her final choice of a profession, she hesitated long as to whether she should adhere to painting, or adopt music and the operatic stage. Many of her best friends advised the latter course, assuring her that success lay within her easy grasp. She finally resolved to pursue the career in which she had already made so hopeful a beginning, rather than to enter upon an untried path. That the choice was no easy one we may infer from that picture in which she has represented herself as standing between music and painting, yielding to the representations of the latter, but addressing to the other an affectionate and regretful farewell.
During her stay at Venice she made the acquaintance of Lady Wentworth, the wife of the English ambassador. The acquaintance ripened into intimacy, and Angelica was at length induced by her new friend to go with her to England. In London, she soon became as popular as she had been in Italy. Lady Wentworth introduced her into society, and her agreeable gifts rendered her everywhere welcome guest. She made the acquaintance of many distinguished people, several of whom became her warm friends for life. Foremost among these was Sir Joshua Reynolds, in whose note-books frequent references to her appear, sometimes as “Miss Angelica," but oftener under the abbreviated title of "Miss Angel."
Heartily as she entered into the gaities of the capital, Angelica did not sacrifice her work to her pleasure. She painted constantly and successfully, one of her earliest efforts being a portrait of Garrick, which was exhibited, as a contemporary chronicle informs us, at "Mr. Moreing's great room in Maiden Lane," where it found immediate favor. Other works rapidly followed. She executed portraits of several members of the royal family, with whom she was a great favorite, and the marked kindness which they showed her greatly increased her popularity. She also painted a likeness of Sir Joshua Reynolds, thus courteously returning a compliment which the illustrious artist had previously paid to her.
Her life up to this time appears to have been a singularly happy one. Her father, of whom she was extremely fond, was devoted to her; she had plenty of friends; she was beautiful, gifted, and admired; and her career in art had been, even from childhood, a series of notable successes. But the spell was soon to be broken. First, according to a well supported tradition, her dear friend Sir Joshua Reynolds fell in love with her. He was then a man of middle age, hardly past his prime, and at the height of his renown. He had already won her friendship, even her affection, but she had no wish to marry him, and it could not but have been painful to her to disappoint him. Their intimacy, however, remained unbroken, and in the bitter trial which was about to come upon her she had no friend more faithful or more untiring in her service than he.
About the year 1768, London society was agitated by the advent of a brilliant and dashing foreigner, who gave his name as Count Horn of Sweden. He was handsome; he dressed elegantly and expensively; he employed numerous servants in gorgeous liveries; he drove about in costly equipages; and lived upon a scale of extravagance beyond what his rank required. He was, moreover, fluent and persuasive of speech. Angelica's fame attracted his notice; he obtained an introduction to her, courted her, at length fascinated her, and after a brief delay they were married. Shortly after the marriage, a terrible truth came to light: the pretended count was no count at all, but an imposter, a scoundrel who had formerly been in the service of a nobleman bearing the name and title which he had assumed.
For a time his unfortunate wife was overwhelmed by the shame and horror of this discovery. She left him at once, and, at length, thanks to the exertions of Sir Joshua and other influential friends, the marriage was annulled. She gradually recovered from the shock, and devoted herself with increased earnestness to her art, encouraged and assisted by Reynolds. It was probably due to him that her name is found among the signatures to the famous petition to the king for the establishment of the Royal Academy. In its first catalogue her name appears, followed by the "R. A.," and she contributed four classical compositions, one representing the Parting of Hector and Andromache. The honor of membership she shared with one other lady, Mary Moser. From this time she was an annual contributor to the Academy, sending occasionally as many as seven pictures, usually upon classical or allegorical subjects. In 1778 she exhibited one of her most noted productions, representing Leonardo da Vinci expiring in the arms of Francis the First. Previous to this she had been, with others, appointed by the Academy to the honorable task of decorating St. Paul's, and it was she who, in concert with Beaggio Rebecca, painted the Academy's old lecture-room at Somerset House.
In 1781, after the death of her first husband, she was again married, this time happily. The man of her choice was Antonio Zucchi, a Venetian landscape painter then living in England, where his works met with much favor. After the wedding she and her husband removed to Venice, and the remainder of her life was spent in Italy. For a few years she enjoyed a life of tranquil industry; then again misfortune came upon her. She lost her fortune, and her husband died.
"Poverty does not terrify me," she exclaimed, "but isolation kills me!"
Even her art failed her. She ceased to paint, and drooped beneath a constantly increasing melancholy. She was in Rome when it was invaded by the French, and although treated with distinction by the conquerors, her grief was increased by the fall of her beloved city. She never recovered her health, but slowly sank under the burden of a sorrow which she could not control, and died in November, 1807. She was buried in the chapel of St. Andrea delle Frate, and was honored by a splendid funeral under the direction of Canova. The Academy of St. Luke followed her in a body to the grave, and, as at the funeral of Raphael, two of her pictures were carried in the procession. They were the two last she had painted.
People to day are not fond of allegorical subjects and classical groups, unless exceptionally treated. The loftier attempts of Angelica Kaufmann (she retained her maiden name until her death) have lost much of their charm; but those who have seen the photographs of her "Vestal Virgin” which are to be found in our art stores, will admit that in simpler subjects her style is graceful, pleasing, and expressive.