Angelica Kauffmann, R.A.

Commissioned by Joseph May (1730-1796), for Hale Park, Hampshire;

By descent to his daughter Elizabeth, who married Robert Maxwell of Islandmore, County Limerick in 1842;

By descent to their daughter-in-law, Mrs E. Maxwell, Dublin;

G. B. Smith;

His sale (probably on behalf of Mrs Maxwell), London, Christie's, 15 May 1886, lots 87 and 88, to McLean for 165 gns. and 60 gns. respectively;

Thence by descent in a Private Collection, Suffolk, until 1995;

With Josephine Fitzalan-Howard and Deborah Gage, London, 12 December 1995, from whom acquired by the present owner.

Düsseldorf, Kunstmuseum, Munich, Haus der Kunst, and Chur, Bündner Kunstmuseum, Retrospektive Angelika Kauffmann, 15 November 1998 – 11 July 1999, nos. 97 & 98.

Lady V. Manners and Dr G.C. Williamson, Angelica Kauffmann, R.A. Her life and works, London 1924 and New York 1976, p. 232 (in reference to the 1886 sale, as Lady and three Children, and Gentleman and three sons);

B. Baumgärtel, Angelika Kauffmann, exhibition catalogue, Düsseldorf 1998, pp. 214-215, cat. nos. 97 & 98.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: These two large paintings have been well preserved, on their original stretchers with fairly recent linings. The restoration is also quite recent and has been careful and discreet. Mrs May and her Daughters. The fine unworn detail in the individual portraits, including the intricacies of the mother's hair and the fresh complexions of the children remain beautifully intact almost throughout, as does the broad free brushwork of the background. There are remarkably few retouchings visible under ultra violet light : one narrow horizontal line at lower left perhaps from a scratch, about eight inches long, one smaller retouched mark in the Mother's lower skirt and another in her sleeve. These are exceptionally minimal for such a large canvas. There are also a few patches of older retouching in the shot red/yellow silk of the dress. This is finely intact in the upper part of the painting but in the lower skirt, where the recent restoration has tactfully left a layer of older varnish which is more opaque under ultra violet light, areas of older red strengthening can be seen. However this is a minor imperfection in this exceptionally finely preserved painting. Mr May and his Sons. These portraits are almost all equally immaculate, with just a little minor strengthening in the head of the Father. Near his head there are one or two retouchings in the sky in a little cluster angled upwards and just nearby at the outer upper right edge a narrow slanting tear has been recently retouched. Elsewhere just one small three cornered tear is visible under ultra violet light near the lower right corner. Older small retouchings can also be seen in the background in a semi vertical line stretching upwards behind the head of the central boy, with occasional scattered small old surface touches at upper left, but these are of minor significance. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

These enchantingly beautiful and impressive paintings are unique in Kauffmann’s oeuvre, for no other example of a family portrait in the form of a diptych is known by the artist. The format thus suggests a site specific commission, and as such they are an intriguing and important insight into the working practice of this sophisticated artist, responding sympathetically and flexibly to the demands of her subject, and the desires of her patron. In exceptionally fine condition, they have remained together ever since they were painted, and have only appeared on the open market once before, in 1886, when they sold for a combined total of 225 guineas. Painted in 1780, shortly before her second marriage and subsequent return to Rome, these paintings represent the artist at the height of her powers. One of only two female founding members of the Royal Academy, by the late 1770s Kauffmann was one of the most sought after painters in England; a position that was confirmed by her selection, in 1779, as one of the artist’s commissioned for the extensive didactic program that formed part of the decoration of the Council Chamber of the Royal Academy. Possibly the most illuminating indication of her status at this time however, is Kauffmann’s own statement, made in the form of her famous Self Portrait with a bust of Minerva, Goddess of Art  (Bünder Kunstmuseum, Chur), painted in the same year as the present works (see fig. 1). 

The portraits depict the family of Joseph May and his wife Mary. Accompanying their father are the couple’s three sons (from left to right), Thomas Charles (1772-1837) aged 8, Joseph (b.1767), aged 12, and John (1775-1856), aged 5, whilst their three daughters are depicted with their mother; (from left to right)  Louisa, the youngest Sophia Magaret, and Maria Emilia. The Mays were a wealthy family and Joseph, like his father before him, was a merchant based in Portugal, where he owned the British wine factory in Lisbon. His wife Mary was the daughter of John Coppendale (d.1824), a fellow merchant of Lisbon, and his wife Rose. Mary had been born in Lisbon in 1745, and the couple were married there on the 18^th September 1764. In 1775 Joseph and his family left Portugal and the following year bought Hale Park in Hampshire from the Hon. Andrew Archer, the great nephew of the architect, Thomas Archer (1668-1743), who had designed and built the house in 1715. The family undertook extensive refurbishments, culminating with the complete remodelling of the house under the supervision of the architect Henry Holland (1745-1806), and it seems evident that, with their grand format, these two impressive pendants were conceived specifically with a view to their final placement in the house.   

Responding to the natural symmetry of the family make up with characteristic initiative, Kauffmann’s treatment of the subject involves an ingenious visual programme based around the separation of the male and the female domains. With almost life size figures, which lend a directness to the composition, she emphasises the contrasting and yet complementary individual roles of her sitter’s within the domestic hierarchy.  At the same time the graceful lines and harmony of the figural construction, as well as her treatment of individual poses, demonstrates Kauffmann’s extensive knowledge of Classical sculpture and design, and her skilful application of this language to ennoble her subject with the virtues inherent to antiquity. On the left Mary and her daughters are depicted in a frieze like arrangement, reminiscent of Greek reliefs, with the figures set before a pastoral landscape. While all three of the girls have a feeling of being inspired by Classical statuary, the reclining figure of Louisa in particular is reminiscent of that of the Sleeping Ariadne from the Vatican (a work of art the artist would have known well from her studies in Rome), and seems to imitate the pose with her playful gesture of putting a garland on her head. The femininity of the scene is enhanced through a limited palette of soft pastel tones, the predominance of smooth, undulating curves, and the associations of Arcadian landscape and the sensibility of nature. At the same time the centrality of Mary’s position within the family, and her role as the matriarchal figurehead, are emphasised by her position within the composition. Indeed, as Baumgärtel has suggested, Kauffmann draws on a long standing tradition within European portraiture to imbue the painting with Marian associations, in which the central figure (possibly in part reference to her Christian name) takes on the role of the Madonna, and the youngest daughter, Sophia Margaret, is presented as the Christ child.

On the right Kauffmann inverts this concept to depict the male domain, with Joseph as the patriarchal figure head, watching over his three sons. The palette is bolder, the surroundings more sober, and the arrangement of the figures, though still frieze like and grounded in an understanding of classical harmony, is more dynamic, while the interaction between them is more rhetorical. Only John, the youngest of the three boys looks out to engage the viewer. Unlike his mother and sisters, who largely direct their gaze towards the viewer, his father and elder brothers are engaged in discussion, there attention focused upon a globe. As a prosperous mercantile family their fortunes were dependent on trade and mastery of the shifts in contemporary geo-politics, a subject their father is clearly concerned his sons should comprehend. On close inspection we see that it is Portugal to which the eldest boy points on the map, whilst glancing back at his father with an enquiring look - the origin of the family’s fortune and the centre of their fathers business concerns. The boys enquiring gaze is reciprocated by the gesture of his father’s outstretched hand, which imbues the picture with a sense of lineage and dynastic inheritance, as well as lending it a sense of place, all of which are essential elements, not only of the traditions of contemporary British portraiture, but of the eighteenth century male dominated world view.  In contrast with the female domain, Kauffmann has outlined her male sitters against a neutral background, lending greater solidity to the composition, and a heightened sense of gravitas.  Together they masterfully depict the different spheres, both male and female, within the dynamic of a prosperous eighteenth century family, whilst at the same time expressing the contrasting hopes and aspirations of the parents for their six children.

One of the most cultured women of her generation in Europe, and one of the most influential women of the eighteenth century, Angelica Kauffmann holds a place of particular importance in European art history. A talented musician, as well as one of the first truly great professional female artists, she was both a brilliant history and portrait painter. Born in Switzerland, and having trained in Rome, where she befriended the English neo-Classical painters Gavin Hamilton and Nathaniel Dance, she came to England in 1766. In London she quickly became a close friend of Sir Joshua Reynolds, whom she is rumoured to have nearly married at one point, and many of the most prominent cultural figures in England, including David Garrick. Fluent in English, French, Italian and German, her charm, whit, intelligence, and skill attracted much attention, and she was highly sought after by many of the foremost connoisseurs of the day, including members of the Royal family. In 1781, following her marriage to the Italian decorative painter Antonio Zucchi, she returned to Rome where her studio became a popular stop for fashionable visitors on the grand tour, including artists, writers, aristocrats and dealers from across Europe. Her clients included many of the crowned heads of Europe, including Catherine the Great of Russia, and she was close friends with international luminaries such as Goethe, Canova and Sir William Hamilton.