DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66024#0046
10
ANGELICA KAUFFMANN
In Sir Joshua and His Circle, by Molloy, it is mentioned that when Angelica,
even as an infant, was given bits of chalk to play with, she at once made orna-
mental hieroglyphics with them on the studio floor, and that, a little later on,
before she had learned to write, she was able to draw heads and figures. By
the time the child was nine years old she had begun to use crayons, and even
to paint in oil, and although some of the neighbours were disposed to think
that her father was encouraging his clever child too much, it is clear that the
talent the little girl possessed was so definite and unmistakable that she needed
little encouragement, and was always eager to devote the time which with other
children would have been given to play or to study, to the artistic pursuits
which even then attracted her.
By 1752 the family had left Morbegno and settled down at Como. There
the bishop of the diocese, Mgr. Nevroni Cappucino, became interested in
Angelica, and permitted her to execute his own portrait in pastel. Angelica
was at that time only eleven years old, and the bishop is described as a venerable
man, of stately and dignified presence, with brilliant eyes and clear complexion,
and possessing a long silvery white beard. The child, we are told, was not
in the least afraid of the task that was set her; in fact, it has been stated that
she herself asked the bishop if she might paint his portrait, and it is said to
have proved an acceptable likeness. It certainly pleased the old bishop very
much, and its immediate result was a series of commissions from the wealthier
inhabitants of the place pouring in upon the youthful artist.
Como was a very attractive place to Angelica. Years afterwards she wrote
of it with rapturous recollections. “ You ask, my friends,” she said, “ why Como
is ever in my thoughts. It was at Como that in my most happy youth I tasted
the first real enjoyment of life: I saw stately palaces, beautiful villas, elegant
pleasure-boats, a splendid theatre, I thought myself in the midst of the luxuries
of fairyland. I saw the urchin, too—young Love—in the act of letting fly
an arrow pointed at my breast; but I, a maiden fancy free, avoided the shaft,
and it fell harmless.” She then goes on to refer to the district round about
Como as being “ delicious,” says that it was there that she “ tasted the delights
of friendship, with the charms of nature, and listened with deeper joy than
ever to the murmur of waves on that unrivalled shore.”
The Kauffmann family were in Como for about two years, and during that
time Angelica appears to have received lessons in music, and to have studied
history and languages so fully that, in later years, she was able to speak four
tongues with equal fluency. Her father had to refuse many of the commissions
that were showered upon her, because she was so young, and her time was
so fully occupied with her studies that she was unable to give proper time and
attention to painting. In 1754 the family left Como for Milan, and there, for
the first time, the girl came into actual contact with paintings by the Old Masters.
Very few women were permitted to copy in the galleries of Milan; in fact,
it has been said that, for a while, Angelica was the only one who was given
that privilege, while another writer states that she had one companion; but
ANGELICA KAUFFMANN
In Sir Joshua and His Circle, by Molloy, it is mentioned that when Angelica,
even as an infant, was given bits of chalk to play with, she at once made orna-
mental hieroglyphics with them on the studio floor, and that, a little later on,
before she had learned to write, she was able to draw heads and figures. By
the time the child was nine years old she had begun to use crayons, and even
to paint in oil, and although some of the neighbours were disposed to think
that her father was encouraging his clever child too much, it is clear that the
talent the little girl possessed was so definite and unmistakable that she needed
little encouragement, and was always eager to devote the time which with other
children would have been given to play or to study, to the artistic pursuits
which even then attracted her.
By 1752 the family had left Morbegno and settled down at Como. There
the bishop of the diocese, Mgr. Nevroni Cappucino, became interested in
Angelica, and permitted her to execute his own portrait in pastel. Angelica
was at that time only eleven years old, and the bishop is described as a venerable
man, of stately and dignified presence, with brilliant eyes and clear complexion,
and possessing a long silvery white beard. The child, we are told, was not
in the least afraid of the task that was set her; in fact, it has been stated that
she herself asked the bishop if she might paint his portrait, and it is said to
have proved an acceptable likeness. It certainly pleased the old bishop very
much, and its immediate result was a series of commissions from the wealthier
inhabitants of the place pouring in upon the youthful artist.
Como was a very attractive place to Angelica. Years afterwards she wrote
of it with rapturous recollections. “ You ask, my friends,” she said, “ why Como
is ever in my thoughts. It was at Como that in my most happy youth I tasted
the first real enjoyment of life: I saw stately palaces, beautiful villas, elegant
pleasure-boats, a splendid theatre, I thought myself in the midst of the luxuries
of fairyland. I saw the urchin, too—young Love—in the act of letting fly
an arrow pointed at my breast; but I, a maiden fancy free, avoided the shaft,
and it fell harmless.” She then goes on to refer to the district round about
Como as being “ delicious,” says that it was there that she “ tasted the delights
of friendship, with the charms of nature, and listened with deeper joy than
ever to the murmur of waves on that unrivalled shore.”
The Kauffmann family were in Como for about two years, and during that
time Angelica appears to have received lessons in music, and to have studied
history and languages so fully that, in later years, she was able to speak four
tongues with equal fluency. Her father had to refuse many of the commissions
that were showered upon her, because she was so young, and her time was
so fully occupied with her studies that she was unable to give proper time and
attention to painting. In 1754 the family left Como for Milan, and there, for
the first time, the girl came into actual contact with paintings by the Old Masters.
Very few women were permitted to copy in the galleries of Milan; in fact,
it has been said that, for a while, Angelica was the only one who was given
that privilege, while another writer states that she had one companion; but