Place must be accorded first to ladies of the highest rank. Anna Amalia of Brunswick was a noted painter. Maria Anna, Archduchess of Austria, and daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa, occupied her leisure hours in genre-painting and etching, and by her skill obtained considerable repute. Charlotte, Archduchess of Austria, was a member of the academy at Vienna, and as Queen of the Two Sicilies received instruction in Naples from Mura. The Duchess Sophia of Coburg-Saalfeld, besides her paintings, left some proofs of her skill in engraving toward the close of the century.
To these illustrious names may be added others who, like those royal dames, devoted themselves to art, and gained high appreciation from connoisseurs. Maria Elizabeth Wildorfer of Innspruck was busied in the same profession a long time in Rome, where she painted portraits and church pictures under the patronage of a cardinal. Maria Theresa Riedel of Dresden, made pensionnaire of the academy there in 1764, occupied herself in copying Dutch genre-paintings. Rosina, another sister of the painter Dietrich, copied a number of old paintings. She married the painter Boehme, and lived in Berlin till 1770.
Anna Dorothea, one of the sisters Liszeuska, born in 1722, was elected, on account of her portraits and historical works, a member of the Parisian Academy. She died in Berlin as Madame Therbusch, in 1782. Jacoba Werbronk worked in the latter part of the century, and died in 1801 in the Cloister Iseghen. But none of the women artists of this time can be compared in point of genius or celebrity to the one of whom we are now to speak—one of the loveliest, most gifted, and most estimable of all the women who have secured immortal fame by the labors of the pencil.
CHAPTER XI.
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Angelica Kauffman.—Parentage and Birth.—Beautiful Scenery of her native Land.—Early Impulse to Painting.—Adopts the Style of Mengs.—Her Residence in Como.—Instruction.—Music or Painting?—Beauty of Nature around her.—Angelica’s Letter about Como.—Escape from Cupid.—Removal to Milan.—Introduction to great Works of Art.—Studies of the Lombard Masters.—The Duke of Modena her Patron.—Portrait of the Duchess of Carrara.—Success.—Return to Schwarzenberg.—Painting in Fresco.—Homely Life of the Artist.—Milan and Florence.—Rome.—Acquaintance with Winkelmann.—Angelica paints his Portrait.—Goes to Naples.—Studies in Rome.—In Venice.—Acquaintance with noble English Families.—In London.—A brilliant Career.—Fuseli’s Attachment to her.—Appointed Professor in the Academy of Arts.—Romantic Incident of her Travel in Switzerland.—The weary Travelers.—The libertine Lord.—The Maiden’s Indignation.—Unexpected Meeting in the aristocratic Circles of London.—The Lord’s Suit renewed.—Rejected with Scorn.—His Rank and Title spurned.—Revenge.—The Impostor in Society.—Angelica deceived into Marriage.—She informs the Queen.—Her Father’s Suspicions.—Discovery of the Cheat.—The Wife’s Despair.—The false Marriage annulled.—The Queen’s Sympathy.—Stories of Angelica’s Coquetry.—Marriage with Zucchi.—Return to Italy.—Her Father’s Death.—Residence in Rome.—Circle of literary Celebrities.—Angelica’s Works.—Criticisms.—Opinions of Mengs and Fuseli.—The Portraits in the Pitti Gallery.—Death of Zucchi.—Invasion of Italy.—Angelica’s Melancholy.—Journey and Return.—Her Death and Funeral.
ANGELICA KAUFFMAN.
Maria Anna Angelica Kauffman was born in Coire, the capital of the Grisons, in 1741. Her father, the painter Johann Joseph Kauffman, had been called to that place from Schwartzenberg on the Boden-See, by the bishop’s appointment, to paint church pictures. He married there, and remained till 1742, before removing to Morbegno in Lombardy.
An only child, Angelica’s early years were tended by the care of loving parents; and the grandeur and beauty of nature around her home, the vine-clad hills and wild forests of her native land, the blue waters and bright scenery she was accustomed to contemplate in Italy, impressed her susceptible imagination, and awakened in her youthful breast a quick and joyous sympathy with nature. Though not specially intended by her father for the artist’s calling, the early impulse of genius led her to painting, and she was permitted to follow the bent of her inclination with such direction only as made the work appointed her seem like a pleasant recreation. She preferred her lessons, in fact, to any amusement. Very different was the early training of this gentle spirit to that of Raphael Mengs, compelled to labor under strict rules; and though Angelica afterward adopted the style of this celebrated German master, hers differed in the possession of a light and charming grace, which could only have been derived from her native endowments and the free indulgence of her tastes.
At the age of nine this child of genius was much noticed on account of her wonderful pastel pictures. When her father left Morbegno, in 1752, to reside in Como, she found greater scope for her ingenious talent, and better instruction in that city; and, in addition to her practice with the brush and pencil, she devoted herself to studies in general literature and in music. Her proficiency in the latter was so rapid, and the talent evinced so decided, besides the possession of a voice unusually fine, that her friends, a few years afterward, urged that her life should be devoted to music. She was herself undecided for some time to which vocation she should consecrate her powers. In one of her pictures she represents herself standing, in an attitude of hesitation, between the allegorical figures of Music and Painting. Her love for the latter gained the ascendency; and so great was her success, while yet of tender age, that her portrait of a steward of the Bishop of Como gained her a number of profitable orders.
The exquisite natural scenery by which Angelica was at this time surrounded, in a home on the borders of the loveliest lake in the world, had a genial influence on her feelings, and the time passed there was the happiest of her life. She is said to have painted the portrait of the Archbishop of Como, at a very early age. At a later period she recurs with pleasure to the years passed in this charming abode.