DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66024#0225
CHAPTER XII
angelica’s decorative work
Angelica was before all things a poetical painter, mingling the charm of
classical allegory and sentiment with the delight of line and colour. These
peculiar gifts of hers were especially adapted for the genre of decoration, and
the fertility of her invention and the grace of her composition easily made her
pre-eminent in this branch of Art.
We find in the contemporary 1 memoirs of her day frequent mention of
Angelica’s being employed in this particular work. Unfortunately, in many
cases the writers have not specified the actual mansions she was employed to
decorate, but the many references to her decorative work are proof (if proof
were wanted) of how much time and labour she gave up to this branch of her
art, and also to her great popularity in the public estimation as a specially gifted
decorative artist.
The Brothers Adam frequently employed Angelica to decorate their houses,
and some of her best work is still to be seen in London to-day, where on the
ceilings and walls of its mansions her delicate and facile designs have found free
expression in all their charm of colour.
On the subject of Angelica’s decorative work we may quote the remarks
by Mr. Stratton in The English Interior : “ Colour effects were vital to the style,
and apart from flat colour washes and painted ornament, many rooms owe
their fascination largely to the exquisite panel paintings of Cipriani, Antonio
Zucchi, and Angelica Kauffmann, the three principal artists who entered
whole-hearedly into the spirit of the Adam style. Ceilings offered the widest
field for the work of these decorative painters.” 2
We may also refer to some notes made by Soane the architect on his inter-
leaved copy of “ a bitter pamphlet ” printed in 1780 by “ Robert Shanhagan
Gent.,” a pseudonym for Robert Smirke the painter, the father of Sir Robert
Smirke. On p. 30 of this pamphlet Soane has this footnote : “ The late
Mr. Robert Adam was certainly a man of uncommon talents, of amiable dis-
position and of unassuming manners, a friend to artists of every description,
and although he overlooked or underrated the great qualities of Mr. Shan-
hagan, he patronized on all occasions Angelica, Zucchi, Clerisseau and Hamil-
ton.” “ Mr. Adam also deserves great praise for banishing from interior
1 Smith’s Nollekens and His Times, Vol. I, p. 305; Leslie and Taylor’s Life of Sir Joshua
Reynolds, and many other authorities.
2 The English Interior, by Stratton, p. 47.
K 129
angelica’s decorative work
Angelica was before all things a poetical painter, mingling the charm of
classical allegory and sentiment with the delight of line and colour. These
peculiar gifts of hers were especially adapted for the genre of decoration, and
the fertility of her invention and the grace of her composition easily made her
pre-eminent in this branch of Art.
We find in the contemporary 1 memoirs of her day frequent mention of
Angelica’s being employed in this particular work. Unfortunately, in many
cases the writers have not specified the actual mansions she was employed to
decorate, but the many references to her decorative work are proof (if proof
were wanted) of how much time and labour she gave up to this branch of her
art, and also to her great popularity in the public estimation as a specially gifted
decorative artist.
The Brothers Adam frequently employed Angelica to decorate their houses,
and some of her best work is still to be seen in London to-day, where on the
ceilings and walls of its mansions her delicate and facile designs have found free
expression in all their charm of colour.
On the subject of Angelica’s decorative work we may quote the remarks
by Mr. Stratton in The English Interior : “ Colour effects were vital to the style,
and apart from flat colour washes and painted ornament, many rooms owe
their fascination largely to the exquisite panel paintings of Cipriani, Antonio
Zucchi, and Angelica Kauffmann, the three principal artists who entered
whole-hearedly into the spirit of the Adam style. Ceilings offered the widest
field for the work of these decorative painters.” 2
We may also refer to some notes made by Soane the architect on his inter-
leaved copy of “ a bitter pamphlet ” printed in 1780 by “ Robert Shanhagan
Gent.,” a pseudonym for Robert Smirke the painter, the father of Sir Robert
Smirke. On p. 30 of this pamphlet Soane has this footnote : “ The late
Mr. Robert Adam was certainly a man of uncommon talents, of amiable dis-
position and of unassuming manners, a friend to artists of every description,
and although he overlooked or underrated the great qualities of Mr. Shan-
hagan, he patronized on all occasions Angelica, Zucchi, Clerisseau and Hamil-
ton.” “ Mr. Adam also deserves great praise for banishing from interior
1 Smith’s Nollekens and His Times, Vol. I, p. 305; Leslie and Taylor’s Life of Sir Joshua
Reynolds, and many other authorities.
2 The English Interior, by Stratton, p. 47.
K 129