Angelica Kauffman

Angelica Kauffman painted elegant Neoclassical history pictures and portraits, with soft colour, graceful figures and scenes from classical myth and literature. She was one of the most successful artists in 18th century Europe.

She was born in Chur, Switzerland, and trained with her father, a painter. She was a child prodigy and spoke four languages. After years in Italy she moved to London in the mid 1760s, where she was in great demand for portraits and decorative schemes, and in 1768 she was one of two women among the founding members of the Royal Academy. In 1781 she married the painter Antonio Zucchi and settled in Rome, where she worked until her death. Her work hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Hermitage and the Uffizi.

In Hector Calls Paris to the Battle, look for her clear drawing and gentle, balanced grouping of figures.