Angelica Kauffman

Angelica Kauffman was a Swiss-born painter, a child prodigy taught by her father, who worked in Italy before moving to London in 1766. She became one of the most successful painters in Britain, making portraits and Neoclassical history pictures from classical and literary subjects, and was one of two women among the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768. She painted decorative panels for interiors by Robert Adam, and her designs were widely copied on furniture and porcelain. In 1781 she settled in Rome, where she died. The National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Academy and Kenwood House hold her work, and her ceiling roundels for the old Academy are at Burlington House.