DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66024#0080
38 ANGELICA KAUFFMANN
Edgar with Elfrida after her marriage with Athelwold”; “ Acontio and
Adippe, taken from Ovid, Epistle 19 ”; “ The Return of Telemachus ”
{Odyssey, Book 17); “ Erminia finds Tancred wounded and assists in his
Relief ” (Tasso, Canto 19); The Portrait of a Lady and Child, three-
quarters; and a ditto of an artist, kitcat. The “ Interview between Edgar
and Elfrida,” another picture which belongs to Lord Morley, is said by one
of her biographers to have raised her reputation in England to the highest
point. It was engraved in mezzotint by Ryland, and was an exceedingly
popular print. It has been suggested that the portrait of “ A Lady and her
Child ” represented General Stanwick’s daughter, and that the mother was
gazing at a miniature of the child. It is not very clear, however, whether the
miniature in this particular picture does represent a child, or that the attribution
is well founded. General Stanwick’s daughter’s portrait was certainly
painted, and the picture was regarded as a memorial one, because the lady
represented in it lost her life by shipwreck on her way from Ireland. For
this reason it attracted special attention, but it is difficult to determine whether
the picture mentioned in the catalogue is the one in question.
The “ Portrait of an Artist ” which Angelica exhibited has been by some
writers declared to be that of Sir Joshua Reynolds. This is almost certainly
not the case. The portrait of Reynolds, if exhibited at all, was exhibited at
a much later date, and, moreover, one contemporary writer declares that
Reynolds’s portrait was never exhibited at the Royal Academy. It is impossible
now to arrive at a decision, but the portrait may have been sent in unfinished,
and completed afterwards. It seems, on the other hand, most unlikely, if
the portrait represented Reynolds, it should have been sent to his own
Academy as that of “ An Artist,” and without his name. About that year’s
exhibition, Mrs. Delany writes thus : “ This morning we have been to see
Mr. West’s and Mrs. Angelica’s paintings, introduced by Mr. Crispin, whom
I like extremely. My partiality leans to my sister painter, but I like her
history still better than her portraits.” By “ history ” probably Mrs. Delany
meant the classical subjects in contradistinction to the portraits.
The Viceroy of Ireland, Lord Townshend, was very much attracted by
the work of Angelica Kaufimann. He commissioned his own portrait, inviting
her to come to Dublin and paint it there, and at the same time to paint
portraits of various members of his family. Angelica appears to have spent
the autumn of 1771 in Ireland, and to have been received very well by the
Irish nobility. She stayed for a while with Mrs. Clayton, daughter of Sir
James Donellan, Lord Chief Baron, widow of the Bishop of Clogher, who, in
early days, had been the friend of Swift; at her house on St. Stephen’s Green;
and Mrs. Delany, who knew Mrs. Clayton well, says that the rooms were hung
with gold-coloured damask, and furnished with busts and portraits brought
by the Bishop from Italy. Mrs. Clayton, she adds, “ saw the best of company,
and kept a handsome table, six dishes of meat at dinner and six at supper.”
From that house she is said to have gone on to stay with the Secretary of
Edgar with Elfrida after her marriage with Athelwold”; “ Acontio and
Adippe, taken from Ovid, Epistle 19 ”; “ The Return of Telemachus ”
{Odyssey, Book 17); “ Erminia finds Tancred wounded and assists in his
Relief ” (Tasso, Canto 19); The Portrait of a Lady and Child, three-
quarters; and a ditto of an artist, kitcat. The “ Interview between Edgar
and Elfrida,” another picture which belongs to Lord Morley, is said by one
of her biographers to have raised her reputation in England to the highest
point. It was engraved in mezzotint by Ryland, and was an exceedingly
popular print. It has been suggested that the portrait of “ A Lady and her
Child ” represented General Stanwick’s daughter, and that the mother was
gazing at a miniature of the child. It is not very clear, however, whether the
miniature in this particular picture does represent a child, or that the attribution
is well founded. General Stanwick’s daughter’s portrait was certainly
painted, and the picture was regarded as a memorial one, because the lady
represented in it lost her life by shipwreck on her way from Ireland. For
this reason it attracted special attention, but it is difficult to determine whether
the picture mentioned in the catalogue is the one in question.
The “ Portrait of an Artist ” which Angelica exhibited has been by some
writers declared to be that of Sir Joshua Reynolds. This is almost certainly
not the case. The portrait of Reynolds, if exhibited at all, was exhibited at
a much later date, and, moreover, one contemporary writer declares that
Reynolds’s portrait was never exhibited at the Royal Academy. It is impossible
now to arrive at a decision, but the portrait may have been sent in unfinished,
and completed afterwards. It seems, on the other hand, most unlikely, if
the portrait represented Reynolds, it should have been sent to his own
Academy as that of “ An Artist,” and without his name. About that year’s
exhibition, Mrs. Delany writes thus : “ This morning we have been to see
Mr. West’s and Mrs. Angelica’s paintings, introduced by Mr. Crispin, whom
I like extremely. My partiality leans to my sister painter, but I like her
history still better than her portraits.” By “ history ” probably Mrs. Delany
meant the classical subjects in contradistinction to the portraits.
The Viceroy of Ireland, Lord Townshend, was very much attracted by
the work of Angelica Kaufimann. He commissioned his own portrait, inviting
her to come to Dublin and paint it there, and at the same time to paint
portraits of various members of his family. Angelica appears to have spent
the autumn of 1771 in Ireland, and to have been received very well by the
Irish nobility. She stayed for a while with Mrs. Clayton, daughter of Sir
James Donellan, Lord Chief Baron, widow of the Bishop of Clogher, who, in
early days, had been the friend of Swift; at her house on St. Stephen’s Green;
and Mrs. Delany, who knew Mrs. Clayton well, says that the rooms were hung
with gold-coloured damask, and furnished with busts and portraits brought
by the Bishop from Italy. Mrs. Clayton, she adds, “ saw the best of company,
and kept a handsome table, six dishes of meat at dinner and six at supper.”
From that house she is said to have gone on to stay with the Secretary of