Lot 3054 - A210 Old Master Paintings - Friday, 20. September 2024, 02.00 PM
ANGELICA KAUFFMANN
(Chur 1741–1807 Rome)
Cleopatra before Augustus. Circa 1805–06.
Oil on paper laid on canvas.
Signed lower left: Angelica Kauffmann pinx.
25.7 × 33.1 cm.
Certificate:
Dr Bettina Baumgärtel, 5.5.2024.
Provenance:
- Produced probably circa 1805/06 as preparatory work for a large format painting commissioned by Senator Giovanni Battista Sommariva of Milan (1760-1826).
- Private collection, Switzerland since circa 1960, thence by descent.
This oil study shows the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII kneeling before the Roman general Augustus after his victory at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC.
‘This version of Cleopatra’s image, which deviates from the usual depiction of a femme fatale, begins with Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Il Guercino. His painting in the Capitoline Museum in Rome influenced both Anton Raphael Meng's well-known depiction of Cleopatra before Augustus in Stourhead House and two paintings by Angelika Kauffmann. The artist was well acquainted with both previous works. Her composition is thus in the tradition of a Cleopatra painting repeatedly thematised in classicism, which does not depict the ‘femme forte’ triumphing over men, but rather the seemingly humble woman kneeling before a man and whose apparent weakness is not entirely convincing. In 1783, the artist treated the subject for the first time in a tondo painted on copper for Goerge Bowles (today in the Spencer Museum of Art, USA, inv. no. 1956.0033). It was not until 1806, a year before her death, that she painted the scene again in a large-format canvas commissioned by Senator Giovanni Battista Sommariva (1760-1826). The oil sketch shown here was created in preparation for this late work, which is now lost. Strictly speaking, it is a compositional study in which not only the overall layout of the painting but also the colour scheme is defined. ‘The oil sketch is important not least because it is the only evidence of the lost late work by Angelika Kauffmann. Accordingly, the compositional study must have been created before the large oil painting began and can therefore be dated before/around 1806.’ (Quoted from the expert report by Dr Bettina Baumgärtel, head of the Angelika Kauffman Research Project, dated 5 May 2024).
Angelica Kauffman's significance for 18th century art history is as important today as it was during her lifetime, as the recent exhibition at the Royal Academy in London proves.
‘This version of Cleopatra’s image, which deviates from the usual depiction of a femme fatale, begins with Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Il Guercino. His painting in the Capitoline Museum in Rome influenced both Anton Raphael Meng's well-known depiction of Cleopatra before Augustus in Stourhead House and two paintings by Angelika Kauffmann. The artist was well acquainted with both previous works. Her composition is thus in the tradition of a Cleopatra painting repeatedly thematised in classicism, which does not depict the ‘femme forte’ triumphing over men, but rather the seemingly humble woman kneeling before a man and whose apparent weakness is not entirely convincing. In 1783, the artist treated the subject for the first time in a tondo painted on copper for Goerge Bowles (today in the Spencer Museum of Art, USA, inv. no. 1956.0033). It was not until 1806, a year before her death, that she painted the scene again in a large-format canvas commissioned by Senator Giovanni Battista Sommariva (1760-1826). The oil sketch shown here was created in preparation for this late work, which is now lost. Strictly speaking, it is a compositional study in which not only the overall layout of the painting but also the colour scheme is defined. ‘The oil sketch is important not least because it is the only evidence of the lost late work by Angelika Kauffmann. Accordingly, the compositional study must have been created before the large oil painting began and can therefore be dated before/around 1806.’ (Quoted from the expert report by Dr Bettina Baumgärtel, head of the Angelika Kauffman Research Project, dated 5 May 2024).
Angelica Kauffman's significance for 18th century art history is as important today as it was during her lifetime, as the recent exhibition at the Royal Academy in London proves.
CHF 10 000 / 15 000 | (€ 10 310 / 15 460)
Sold for CHF 66 250 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.