Kirsten Tambling: Sense & Sensibility
Kirsten Tambling discusses the book "Mrs Kauffman and Madame Le Brun: The Entwined Lives of Two Great Eighteenth-Century Women Artists" by Franny Moyle.
Angelica Kauffman: A Multifaceted Artist
Angelica Kauffman was a skilled artist with diverse talents. She was adept with a glass harmonica, and in 1768, the Danish poet Helfrich Peter Sturz visited her London studio, where she played the instrument, eliciting "haunting chimes from a set of gradated glasses, with ‘her large expressive eyes devoutly cast upwards’".
- She also played the cittern.
- She delighted guests with poetry recitations.
her large expressive eyes devoutly cast upwards
Meanwhile, her studio was also a place for portrait sittings, such as the one with the Duchess of Brunswick in 1767, where Kauffman depicted her in flowing classical drapery, holding her infant son.
Author's summary: Kirsten Tambling reviews a book about two 18th-century women artists.
Original text by Kirsten Tambling.