Angelica Kauffman, R.A. 1741-1807

This exquisite portrait has long been considered one of the artist's most successful works. It was painted by Angelica Kauffman in 1766, the year in which she made the decision to move from Italy to England. Within a month of having arrived in London Kauffman was hard at work on this portrait. On 2^nd August Lady Mary Coke wrote to her sister, the Countess of Stafford:

"I went to Lady Ailesbury’s, and found her and Mr Conway were going to a painter who had just arrived from Italy, and was brought over by Lady Wentworth, the same who drew a picture of Mr Garrick, which was shown, I am told, in the exhibition. I went with them, and saw the picture she was painting of Miss Conway. It was like, and appeared to be to be well done, but too large, as you would take for a very big woman".

The subject for her portrait, the striking Anne Damer, was well connected and Kauffman clearly wanted to make a good impression with her first work in England. Anne was born at Coomb Bank, Sundbridge, Kent in 1748.  She was the daughter of Field Marshal Henry Seymour Conway, and the granddaughter of the 4^th Duke of Argyll.  Her father was elected M.P. for Higham Ferrars in 1741, and he subsequently represented Penrhyn, St Maws, Thetford, Bury St Edmunds and finally Wendover in 1775.  Her mother is referred to in the letter above as Lady Ailesbury since she had previously married Charles Bruce, 3^rd Earl of Ailesbury, and was highly regarded as a beautiful and talented woman.  When Anne was six years old her father was ordered to join his regiment in Ireland.  He was accompanied by his wife, and Anne was left in the charge of Horace Walpole, her godfather and her father’s cousin.  Walpole was clearly fond of his young charge, and throughout his correspondence to her parents he refers affectionately to Anne as ‘missy’.  At the date when this portrait was painted,  Anne Conway was only seventeen years old, but she had already shown an extraordinary artistic talent, and was soon to establish herself as a leading sculptor.  A charming story is often told which explains Anne’s enthusiasm for sculpture.  In 1767 David Hume, the famous historian, had been employed as under-secretary to Anne Conway’s father.  Anne and Hume were taking a walk, when Hume stopped a young Italian boy, who was carrying carved plaster figurines.  He enquired how they had been made, and seemed interested in their modelling.  Anne was dismissive of Hume’s interest in this boy’s art, and Hume’s retort was that “with all your attainments now, you cannot produce such works”.  This piqued Anne’s pride and a short while later she presented Hume with a bust of herself (fig.1).  She proceeded to receive instruction from some of the finest sculptors of the day, and she established an important clientele, which included Lady Elizabeth Foster (later Duchess of Devonshire) and Lady Melbourne.

 In June 1767 she married John Damer, eldest son of Joseph Damer, Lord Milton.  Their marriage proved an unhappy one, and he died in 1776,  having squandered a vast inheritance.  After his death, Anne devoted her energies to her sculpture.  When Kauffman painted this portrait, she was herself only twenty-five years old, but by 1766 she had studied for four years in Italy where she had mixed with the artistic fraternity, and learnt much from her contact with artists such as Pompeo Batoni. This experience gave her the artistic maturity to be able to produce so accomplished and satisfying a composition as the present work.