Art Angel

A glimpse into the life of Angelica Kauffmann

(1741 – 1807)
written and performed by
Kara Wilson
adapted from
‘Angelica Kauffmann, a biography’
by
Dorothy Moulton Mayer  1972
by kind permission of the publisher, Colin Smythe

Sitting waiting for a friend in Kenwood House, Hampstead, Kara heard an English Heritage guide waxing lyrical about a woman painter who became very famous in a time when artwork was beginning to be reproduced. Kara found herself in front of the work of Angelica Kauffmann, a Swiss painter working in London in the late 18th century. Another painter play was born that day. Kara read everything possible and was given permission to adapt the biography she found that was written by Dorothy Moulton Mayer.

In the play Kara recreates one of Angelica’s many self portraits and tracks her extraordinary success as a female artist in a heady time in London where she mixed with the most celebrated artists, writers, aristocrats and royalty. Kauffmann was one of only two women to be a founding member of the Royal Academy. A woman ahead of her time, she has left a lasting legacy.

Her paintings hang in galleries around the world, not least in Kenwood House in Hampstead. Friends of Kenwood mounted the first public performance of this play at Lauderdale House, Highgate. Since then it has been performed many times at the King Alfred Phoenix Theatre, Hampstead.