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Lot Essay
The present portraits are likely to date from Kauffmann's second period in Italy, between 1781 and 1807, as indicated by the language of the inscriptions on the reverse, and the accomplished nature of their execution. Kauffmann signed her own name with a single 'n', as appears in the inscription.
Kauffmann's work was informed by periods in Florence and Rome, as well as Naples, Bologna, Parma and Venice, between 1762 and 1766. She made connections with the British community in Rome, and was invited to England by the wife of Joseph Smith, the English diplomatic representative in Venice. When Kauffmann arrived in 1766, London was home to a thriving Neoclassical School, second only to that in Rome. She rapidly established a reputation as a leading high-society portrait painter and on the establishment of the Royal Academy in 1768, of which she was one of the two female founder-members, she turned increasingly to history painting. Kauffmann returned to the continent in 1781, practicing in Venice, Rome and Naples. After the death of Batoni in 1787, she was the most famous and successful living painter in Rome.
The present portraits, which date to this later period, are allegorical in the manner of Reynolds' portraits, combining Kauffmann's skills as a portrait artist and history painter, and raising the status of the former.
We are grateful to Wendy Wassyng Roworth for confirming the attribution of these paintings to Kauffmann and for suggesting that they date to her second period in Italy.
Kauffmann's work was informed by periods in Florence and Rome, as well as Naples, Bologna, Parma and Venice, between 1762 and 1766. She made connections with the British community in Rome, and was invited to England by the wife of Joseph Smith, the English diplomatic representative in Venice. When Kauffmann arrived in 1766, London was home to a thriving Neoclassical School, second only to that in Rome. She rapidly established a reputation as a leading high-society portrait painter and on the establishment of the Royal Academy in 1768, of which she was one of the two female founder-members, she turned increasingly to history painting. Kauffmann returned to the continent in 1781, practicing in Venice, Rome and Naples. After the death of Batoni in 1787, she was the most famous and successful living painter in Rome.
The present portraits, which date to this later period, are allegorical in the manner of Reynolds' portraits, combining Kauffmann's skills as a portrait artist and history painter, and raising the status of the former.
We are grateful to Wendy Wassyng Roworth for confirming the attribution of these paintings to Kauffmann and for suggesting that they date to her second period in Italy.