Angelica Kauffman – from  The Uffizi to the Royal Academy

Angelica Kauffman, (1741-1807) was a child prodigy from Switzerland – already painting commissioned portraits by the age of 13 – she became one of Europe’s most successful women artists with her neo-classic work still on display in the Gabinetto of the Uffizi, and  – when open to groups – in the Vasari corridor.

There , in this famous corridor, I was privileged to see the  painting above this afternoon – during the Florentine’s tour of Art by Women in Florence – organised by the Advancing Women Artist’s Foundation sponsored by Jane Fortune and led by author Linda Falcone and art historians from the Medici Archives Project.

Kauffamn held an Italian salon, which was frequented by such auspicious personages as Goethe.

Although she painted many portraits , including commissions from the Royal courts in Naples, (shown above) Russia and Austria, she actually preferred history painting – a genre hitherto reserved completely for men!

Without  formal training she nonetheless produced classical mythology, allegory and history painting and earned enough money from her work to buy her own house – and – perhaps even more remarkably – her own Titian!

Kauffmann was also featured prominently in the negotiations to found the British Royal Academy on Piccadilly London in 1771 and, together with contemporary woman artist Mary Moser (1744-1816), she  shares the dubious distinction that after their membership was agreed, that there were no further official female members of the Royal Academy until Dame Laura Knight in 1936.

Having female members in what was seen as a gentleman’s club always proved a challenge, and when Zoffany was called upon to create a picture of all the founder members of this illustrious organisation he chose to paint a life class – and naturally no respectable woman could be found in the presence of naked men – so his solution was to represent them as paintings on the wall ….. whilst naturally all the male founder members could be portrayed as living human beings!!