Et in Arcadia ego

Details

Angelica Kauffman, R.A. (Chur, Graubünden 1741-1807 Rome)
Et in Arcadia ego
signed 'Angelica Kauffman Pinx.' (centre left) and inscribed 'ET IN ARCADIA EGO' (central right)
oil on canvas
40½ x 50¾ in. (102.8 x 120.9 cm.)

Provenance

Given by the artist to George Keate (1729-1797), writer and painter (50 gns.).

Literature

'Memorandum of Paintings by Angelica Kauffmann', in V. Manners and G.C. Williamson, Angelica Kauffmann, R.A.: Her Life and Works, London, 1924, p. 158.
W. Wassyng Roworth, 'Between 'Old Tiber' and 'Envious Thames': The Angelica Kauffman Connection,' in D. Marshall, S. Russell and K. Wolfe, eds., Roma Britannica: Art Patronage and Cultural Exchange in Eighteenth-Century Rome, London, 2010.

Exhibited

Vaduz, Liechtensteinische Staatliche Kunstsammlung, and Milan, Palazzo della Permanente, Hommage an Angelika Kauffmann, June 1992-January 1993.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.

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Lot Essay

This painting illustrates a scene in George Keate's play The Monument in Arcadia (1773), when the elderly shepherd Dorastus is reunited with his daughter Euphemia, who was abducted by Spartans as an infant. It was painted in Rome in May 1790 for Keate, who was a friend of the artist.

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