DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66024#0032
4 ANGELICA KAUFFMANN
was a mere echo of other artists; and of those who were connected with the
other arts in the form of decoration the name of Zucchi has just survived, but
the name of Angelica Kauffmann has always held its own, and is now invariably
associated with the decoration of the period. She was the popular leader of
the most fashionable art of her time, and it must be remembered that this
fashionable art was also the most influential, for all the English fine and
applied arts of her period were more or less affected by the pseudo-classical
movement.
These explanations do not, however, complete the reasons that exist for
her reputation at the present day. There must also be taken into account her
own prudish prejudices, which, as has been well suggested, accorded with the
ever-present Puritanical feeling of middle-class England. In delineating
classical or Biblical scenes it was necessary to represent partially draped figures,
and in some cases figures that were entirely nude. Angelica was clever
enough to be able to treat these figures in such a manner as to convey no sugges-
tion whatever of nakedness, and it was stated that not one of her works con-
tained anything that could bring the slightest blush to the cheek of a young
girl. Moreover, not only did she adopt this special skill with regard to the
drapery of the figure, but she impressed this characteristic upon her con-
temporaries, and upon those who followed her; and during the long period
that followed her decease, and which extended away down to the very end of
the Victorian Era, there was no English painter, with the one exception of
Etty, who, in painting figures, ventured to paint the undraped figure with
anything like the same degree of realism as it was customary to present in
France. Angelica had laid down certain lines of ultra-refinement and delicacy,
in startling contrast to the coarseness of such men as Gilray and Rowlandson
and, while the coarseness of their caricatures was resented by those who fol-
lowed them, the refinement and the daintiness of Angelica’s conceptions were
appreciated, especially by the middle-class public, and it became necessary all
the way through the long period to which we have just referred that artists
should adopt the methods that Angelica had always adopted, if their work
was to be regarded with favour. It will therefore be recognised, if our reason-
ing is correct, that the influence Angelica created upon the art of the day was
a very important one, and though no one could call her a great painter, or her
pictures noble compositions, yet by reason of her complete acquiescence in
the artistic taste of her own period, and her skill in rendering it in charming
fashion, and with bright, fresh colour, she made a mark upon the art of that
time, which continued to be recognised and appreciated down almost to our
own period.
During her lifetime she must have enjoyed a much more widely spread
renown than did any other artist of the day, not excluding Reynolds, for her
work is to be found in nearly every important national gallery in Europe.
Technically, her productions may be regarded as inferior to those of many of
her own contemporaries, but the hundreds of engravings that were made from her
was a mere echo of other artists; and of those who were connected with the
other arts in the form of decoration the name of Zucchi has just survived, but
the name of Angelica Kauffmann has always held its own, and is now invariably
associated with the decoration of the period. She was the popular leader of
the most fashionable art of her time, and it must be remembered that this
fashionable art was also the most influential, for all the English fine and
applied arts of her period were more or less affected by the pseudo-classical
movement.
These explanations do not, however, complete the reasons that exist for
her reputation at the present day. There must also be taken into account her
own prudish prejudices, which, as has been well suggested, accorded with the
ever-present Puritanical feeling of middle-class England. In delineating
classical or Biblical scenes it was necessary to represent partially draped figures,
and in some cases figures that were entirely nude. Angelica was clever
enough to be able to treat these figures in such a manner as to convey no sugges-
tion whatever of nakedness, and it was stated that not one of her works con-
tained anything that could bring the slightest blush to the cheek of a young
girl. Moreover, not only did she adopt this special skill with regard to the
drapery of the figure, but she impressed this characteristic upon her con-
temporaries, and upon those who followed her; and during the long period
that followed her decease, and which extended away down to the very end of
the Victorian Era, there was no English painter, with the one exception of
Etty, who, in painting figures, ventured to paint the undraped figure with
anything like the same degree of realism as it was customary to present in
France. Angelica had laid down certain lines of ultra-refinement and delicacy,
in startling contrast to the coarseness of such men as Gilray and Rowlandson
and, while the coarseness of their caricatures was resented by those who fol-
lowed them, the refinement and the daintiness of Angelica’s conceptions were
appreciated, especially by the middle-class public, and it became necessary all
the way through the long period to which we have just referred that artists
should adopt the methods that Angelica had always adopted, if their work
was to be regarded with favour. It will therefore be recognised, if our reason-
ing is correct, that the influence Angelica created upon the art of the day was
a very important one, and though no one could call her a great painter, or her
pictures noble compositions, yet by reason of her complete acquiescence in
the artistic taste of her own period, and her skill in rendering it in charming
fashion, and with bright, fresh colour, she made a mark upon the art of that
time, which continued to be recognised and appreciated down almost to our
own period.
During her lifetime she must have enjoyed a much more widely spread
renown than did any other artist of the day, not excluding Reynolds, for her
work is to be found in nearly every important national gallery in Europe.
Technically, her productions may be regarded as inferior to those of many of
her own contemporaries, but the hundreds of engravings that were made from her