DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66024#0126
68
ANGELICA KAUFFMANN
third—the Mother of the Gracchi showing her jewels—her two boys,
and her little daughter, Sempronia. Some other pictures were painted for
Polish patrons, the Countess Baccinski and the Countess Gravonski; and
the Count de Ceres, the brother-in-law of Madame du Barry, who at that
time was visiting Rome, asked her to paint the portrait of his wife. A
few years later this man and his wife both perished by the guillotine at
Toulouse.
Then, on the 20th of July, Angelica left for Naples, and this was to be her
last visit to that city. She carried with her, more or less complete, two
pictures that the Queen had commanded her to paint: one of the Mother of the
Gracchi and her children, the other of Julia, wife of Pompey, fainting at the
sight of the bloodstained garment. She finished these two works in Naples,
and at the same time painted a half-length portrait of one of the Royal Princesses,
Maria Theresa. She was received with great enthusiasm by the Royal Family
of Naples, had the use again of a Court carriage, and her fine set of apartments
in the Palazzo Francovilla, but again was asked to superintend the drawing
lessons of the young princesses, and this work was wearisome to her, and far
too great a strain upon her time. Those who were sitting to her for their
portraits in Rome followed her on to Naples. Prince Youssoupoff requested
that she would paint him a picture representing Ovid in exile dictating a letter
to his wife; and the Attorney-General of Naples, Don Nicholas Vicenzio,
commissioned a sacred scene, which he intended for his own oratory, repre-
senting a Saint in a grotto in the desert adoring the Cross. This Angelica
presented to him, in return for his kindness in arranging some legal matters
for her.
Then it was that she met Count Paul Skavronsky and his beautiful wife,
the niece of Prince Potemkin, the daughter of his sister Helen, who had married
Vassili Engelhardt. The Count was at that time Ambassador at Naples.
His wife was regarded as one of the most lovely women in Europe. She was
the most charming and the most intelligent of the six sisters, all of whom were
noted for their good looks. Angelica appears to have taken a great deal of
pains over her portrait, and to have painted it twice, once alone, and once with
her little girl of four years old, introduced sitting near to her mother, giving
her a bunch of flowers.
Here also it was that she met the famous Lady Elizabeth Foster (nee Hervey),
afterwards Duchess of Devonshire, and she commenced a half-length portrait
of this beautiful woman, in which, in the distance, she represented the Island
of Ischia. She was unable to finish this picture in Naples, and brought it back
with her to Rome, where it was completed. It now belongs to the Marquess
of Bristol, and hangs at Ickworth. The name of the island depicted in the
distance has hitherto remained unknown, and no one has been able to say where
the picture was painted or what scene was used in the background. The
discovery of Angelica’s Italian list has cleared up all these matters of dispute.
Finally, just before she left Naples, she painted a portrait of a Prebendary of
ANGELICA KAUFFMANN
third—the Mother of the Gracchi showing her jewels—her two boys,
and her little daughter, Sempronia. Some other pictures were painted for
Polish patrons, the Countess Baccinski and the Countess Gravonski; and
the Count de Ceres, the brother-in-law of Madame du Barry, who at that
time was visiting Rome, asked her to paint the portrait of his wife. A
few years later this man and his wife both perished by the guillotine at
Toulouse.
Then, on the 20th of July, Angelica left for Naples, and this was to be her
last visit to that city. She carried with her, more or less complete, two
pictures that the Queen had commanded her to paint: one of the Mother of the
Gracchi and her children, the other of Julia, wife of Pompey, fainting at the
sight of the bloodstained garment. She finished these two works in Naples,
and at the same time painted a half-length portrait of one of the Royal Princesses,
Maria Theresa. She was received with great enthusiasm by the Royal Family
of Naples, had the use again of a Court carriage, and her fine set of apartments
in the Palazzo Francovilla, but again was asked to superintend the drawing
lessons of the young princesses, and this work was wearisome to her, and far
too great a strain upon her time. Those who were sitting to her for their
portraits in Rome followed her on to Naples. Prince Youssoupoff requested
that she would paint him a picture representing Ovid in exile dictating a letter
to his wife; and the Attorney-General of Naples, Don Nicholas Vicenzio,
commissioned a sacred scene, which he intended for his own oratory, repre-
senting a Saint in a grotto in the desert adoring the Cross. This Angelica
presented to him, in return for his kindness in arranging some legal matters
for her.
Then it was that she met Count Paul Skavronsky and his beautiful wife,
the niece of Prince Potemkin, the daughter of his sister Helen, who had married
Vassili Engelhardt. The Count was at that time Ambassador at Naples.
His wife was regarded as one of the most lovely women in Europe. She was
the most charming and the most intelligent of the six sisters, all of whom were
noted for their good looks. Angelica appears to have taken a great deal of
pains over her portrait, and to have painted it twice, once alone, and once with
her little girl of four years old, introduced sitting near to her mother, giving
her a bunch of flowers.
Here also it was that she met the famous Lady Elizabeth Foster (nee Hervey),
afterwards Duchess of Devonshire, and she commenced a half-length portrait
of this beautiful woman, in which, in the distance, she represented the Island
of Ischia. She was unable to finish this picture in Naples, and brought it back
with her to Rome, where it was completed. It now belongs to the Marquess
of Bristol, and hangs at Ickworth. The name of the island depicted in the
distance has hitherto remained unknown, and no one has been able to say where
the picture was painted or what scene was used in the background. The
discovery of Angelica’s Italian list has cleared up all these matters of dispute.
Finally, just before she left Naples, she painted a portrait of a Prebendary of