Love conquering Prudence, en grisaille, in a feigned roundel

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 was one of the two female founder-members of the Royal Academy in 1768.