# Angelica Kauffmann artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/angelica-kauffmann/
Profile generated: 2026-05-18T21:25:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1741-10-30
- Death date: 1807-11-05
- Nationality: Swiss
- Movements: Neoclassicism
- Common media: oil on canvas, engraving, etching, drawing (pen, ink, chalk)

## About Angelica Kauffmann

Angelica Kauffmann (1741–1807) was a Swiss-born painter who achieved international acclaim working in London and Rome. Born Maria Anna Angelica Catherina Kauffmann in Chur, Switzerland, she trained across Italy before establishing herself as one of the most sought-after artists of her generation. Kauffmann excelled as a history painter—a genre rarely accessible to women at the time—while also producing accomplished portraits, decorative schemes, and landscape works. In 1768, she became one of only two female founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, alongside Mary Moser. Her career bridged the Italian and British art worlds, and she spent her final decades in Rome as a central figure in the Neoclassical circle that shaped European taste. Kauffmann's refined compositional style and classical subjects made her a favorite among collectors and patrons across the continent, and her work remains represented in major museum collections worldwide.

## Common works and media

Common media include oil on canvas paintings (history subjects, allegorical scenes, portraits, and decorative ceiling and wall schemes), reproductive engravings and etchings by Kauffmann and after her designs, drawings in pen, ink, and chalk, and large-scale decorative commissions for interior schemes. Subjects frequently draw from classical mythology, English literature, and allegorical female figures. Works range from exhibition-scale history paintings to intimate portrait drawings and reproductive prints that circulated widely across Europe.

## Market and appraisal context

Kauffmann's works appear at auction primarily in Old Master Paintings and Old Master Prints categories. Her original oil paintings—especially history subjects and commissioned portraits—command the strongest interest, while reproductive engravings after her designs are more widely available at lower price points. Key valuation factors include secure attribution (many works come from her studio or circle), documented provenance, canvas condition, subject matter, and exhibition history. Collectors should note that attribution can be complex because her popularity led to numerous copies by followers. Authentication typically requires expert connoisseurship and, where possible, correspondence with known catalogued works.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum records, library authority files, and scholarly sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Angelica Kauffmann, this page draws on records from the Tate, the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), Getty ULAN, VIAF, and Wikidata.

## Sources

- RKD: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/43630
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/angelica-kauffman-303
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500115055
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/95148968/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123098
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelica_Kauffman
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50044673