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Self-portrait, painting on canvas by Angelica Kauffmann; in the Staatliche Museen Preussischer … (credit: Courtesy of the Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz Gemaldegalerie, Berlin/Art Resource, New York)

(born Oct. 30, 1741, Chur, Switz. — died Nov. 5, 1807, Rome, Papal States) Swiss-born Italian painter. She began studying art in Italy as a child, showing great precocity, and in 1766 her friend Joshua Reynolds took her to London. There she became known for her decorative work with architects such as Robert Adam. Her pastoral compositions incorporate delicate and graceful depictions of gods and goddesses; though her paintings are Rococo in tone and approach, her figures are Neoclassical (see Classicism and Neoclassicism). Her portraits of female sitters are among her finest works. After marrying the painter Antonio Zucchi (1726 – 95), she returned to Italy in 1781.

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