THE WORLD OF SAMUEL MEEKER, MERCHANT OF PHILADELPHIA, AND GILBERT STUART, AMERICAN PORTRAIT ARTIST

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Swiss/Austrian painter and friend of Goethe; Angelika Kauffmann-- "The whole world is angelikamad!"... an unquestionable influence on GS

Portrait of Antonio Zucchi by Angelika Kauffmann, c. 1782
~
~
~
Portrait of William Grant by Gilbert Stuart 1782 (in England) The Skater
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART Andrew W. Mellon Collection
~


Anna Maria Angelika Catharina Kauffmann, self portrait in Wälder Tracht
Innsbruck, Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum

For more on Angelika's (Possible/Highly Likely) Influence on Stuart (compare Kauffmann's portrait of Joshua Reynolds & Stuart's portrait of Benjamin Waterhouse posts March 11/12) click here.
~
In 1767 Angelika was caught up in an affair of the heart; she met and married an attractive elegant young man and quickly, rashly entered into a secret marriage. His name... 'Count Frederick de Horn'. After the marriage he insisted on taking over Kauffmann's financial affairs, she resisted and ultimately the marriage was undone when Frederick turned out to be an imposter.
In 1781, after the quick dissolution of this first marriage, Angelika wed the Venetian painter Antonio Zucchi (portrait above). The couple moved to the capital of the artworld, Rome. Her house on the Pincio, once inhabited by the painter Anton Raphael Mengs, became the social center of the European intellectual elite and bastion for lovers of art.
~
"In den siebziger Jahren [1870s] war die Nachfrage [demand] nach Gemälde und Nachstichen Kauffmanns oder nach Kauffmannesken Motiven so überwältigend, dass der dänische Botschafter Schönborn am 19. Oktober 1781 am Klopstock schrieb [wrote]: "the whole world is angelicamad"; ein Satz, der längst zum geflügelten Wort geworden ist.....
IN ENGLAND erlangte Kauffmanns Kunst internationalen Verbreitungsgrad allein durch die zahlreichen Punktierstiche, die nach ihren Werken gefertigt wurden....." from "Angelika Kauffmann 1741-1807 'Eine Dichterin mit dem Pinsel" Verlag Gerd Hatje, Dusseldorf 1998 p 31
~
~
"... die vielleicht cultivierteste Frau der Welt ...." Zeitgenosse Herder über Angelika Kauffmann
~
~
~

1 comment:

Rouchswalwe said...

Skatin' with his arms crossed! I had to smile at that ... how ever did he keep his balance?

 
Site Meter