Pioneering history painter, innovative portraitist and one of two women among the founders of the Royal Academy.

Internationally renowned, highly educated and very well connected, Angelica Kauffman (1741–1807) led a brilliant career as a pioneering history painter, an innovative portraitist and one of only two women among the founding membership of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. ‘The whole World is angelicamad’ – thus a Danish diplomat described the effect of her art and personality during her lifetime. Kauffman was admired by Goethe and Herder, and her clients included queens and emperors from across the continent. Her extraordinary life and work are beautifully presented in this handsome volume, which contains her finest paintings and drawings.