Source texts (selection)
Edited by Bettina Baumgärtel
In 1829, Angelica Kauffman’s pictorial and literary estate came from Rome into the possession of her heirs in Vorarlberg. It is now found partly in Bregenz in the vorarlberg museum, and partly in a number of archives and private collections. Further documents are to be found in Bregenz, Vorarlberger Landesarchiv, Chur, Staatsarchiv Graubünden, London, British Library, National Archives, R. A. Archive, Los Angeles, Getty Research Institute, Rom, Archivio di Stato di Roma, Weimar, Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv, Thüringisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Wien, HHStA, Österr. National Bibliothek and elsewhere
The AKRP has at its disposal comprehensive documentation of these and other archives by and about Angelica Kauffman. The material includes academy diplomas, the marriage contract, price lists, letters from, to and about the artist, the marriage certificate, wills, etc.
A selection of these writings and documents are presently being catalogued by Gabriele Ewenz in collaboration with Bettina Baumgärtel, transcribed into legible text, and annotated. The publication of the source corpus is forthcoming.
Giuseppe Carlo Zucchi: Memorie istoriche Maria Angelica Kauffman-Zucchi, Venezia 1787 (beendet Juli 1788); ders., Bd. 1, Rom 1788 u. Bd. 2, Rom 1790 (Handschrift im Archiv Vorarlberger Landesmuseum Bregenz).
This is the first biography written during the artist’s lifetime; it differs in part from G. G de Rossi of 1810/11. It was first assessed in 1998 in the catalogue accompanying the Angelica Kauffman retrospective; in 1999 it was published by H. Swozilek.
„Memorie delle piture fatte d´Angelica Kauffman […]“ (Handschrift im Archiv der Royal Academy London).
A list of paintings drawn up by Antonio Zucchi between December 1781 andn 1798, supplemented by the artist herself. According to the present state of research, the English translation by Donna Stella Vintelleschi “Memorandum of Paintings” (in Manners & Williamson 1924) is considerably in need of correcdtion. Carlo Knight submitted the Italian transcription, published by the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca in Rome in 1998. On this subject, see Wendy W. Roworth: “Angelica Kauffman´s ‘Memorandum of Paintings’”, in: Burlington Magazine, 126, 1984, pp. 629-30
The first objective interpretation of the sources on the artist’s two marriages by:
Peter Leisching: Von böser und von guter Ehe. Die beiden Heiraten der Angelika Kauffmann, in: Jahrbuch d. Vorarlberger Landesmuseumsvereins, Bregenz 1991, S. 373-378
Famous contemporaries mentioned Angelica Kauffman in letters, diaries, travel accounts and memoirs, among others Anna Amalia von Sachsen-Weimar, Katharina P. Bariatinskaja, geb. Holstein-Beck, Fanny Burney, Friederike Brun, Joseph Farington, Heinrich Füssli, Joahnn Gerning, Salomon Gessner, Luise E. von Göchhausen, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Gottfried Herder und Caroline Herder, George Keate, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, August von Kotzebue, Louise Fürstin von Anhalt-Dessau, Friedrich von Matthisson, Johann Heinrich Meyer, Friedrich Müller, gen. Maler Müller, Elisabeth von der Recke, Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg-Stolberg, Luise Gräfin zu Stolberg-Stolberg, Heinrich Peter Helferich Sturz, Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, Horace Walpole, Jean Gaspard Weiss, Johann Joachim Winckelmann and many others.
An overview primarily of the Weimar circle and the literary figures of her time is provided by:
Eugen Thurnher: Angelika Kauffmann und die deutsche Dichtung (Vorarlberger Schrifttum, Bd. 10), Bregenz o. J. (1966); see for letters Kauffmann to Goethe Regestausgabe der Briefe Kauffmann an Goethe
An extensive selection of letters from Angelica Kauffman is found in:
Angelica Kauffmann: „mir träumte vor ein paar Nächten, ich hätte Briefe von Ihnen empfangen“. Gesammelte Briefe in den Originalsprachen, herausgegeben u. kommentiert von Waltraut Maierhofer, Konstanz 2001
A selection of documents and letters was also published and annotated in:
„Angelika Kauffmann. In Liebe ans Vaterland“, bearb. v. Magdalena Häusle, mit Beiträgen v. Waltraud Maierhofer u. Kirsten Kumpf, Förderverein „Freunde Angelika Kauffmann Museum Schwarzenberg“ (Hg.), Angelika Kauffmann Museum Schwarzenberg, Hohenems 2008
Angelika Kauffmann Wahlverwandte, mit Beiträgen v. Alois Niederstätter, Petra Zudrell u. a., Bd.. II der Ausstellungstrilogie „Der Traum vom Glück“, Förderverein ‚Freunde Angelika Kauffmann Museum Schwarzenberg’ (Hg.), Hohenems 2010
Ingrid Sattel-Bernardini: Das Bildnis Ludwigs I. von Bayern. Die Entstehungsgeschichte nach Briefen des Friedrich Müller, genannt Maler Müller, in: Ausst. Kat. Düsseldorf 1998, S. 91-97, 435
Jean-Gaspard Weiss: Autobiographie. Lebens- und Reisebericht eines Musikers aus dem 18. Jahrhundert, Tobias Bonz u. Eliane Michelon (Hg.) in Zusammenarbeit mit den Archives de Mulhouse und Antichi Strumenti (ortusstudien 10), Beeskow 2012; ISBN 978-3-937788-23-4
Gert Ammann: „Ich Maria Angelica Kaufmann von Schwarzenberg im Bregenzerwald Konstanzer Kirchensprengel (Aus Zufall in Chur in Graubünden geboren) […]“. Zur Geschichte der Erwerbungen von Werken der Angelika Kauffmann (Chur 1741-1807 Rom) im Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck. Handschriftliche Dokumente im Vereinsarchiv u. in der Bibliothek, in: Wiss. Jb. d. Tiroler Landesmuseen 2012, Bd.. 5, Innsbruck/Wien/Bozen 2012, S. 106-171
A selection of life documents mainly from the Vorarlberg estate was first in:
Chap. XII. Life documents, edited by Gabriele Ewenz. Transcriptions and translations by Herbert Albrecht, Bettina Baumgärtel et al, in: Exhibition catalogue ‘Angelika Kauffmann. Unknown Treasures from Private Collections in Vorarlberg’, ed. and edited by Bettina Baumgärtel, KstDW Dessau-Wörlitz and vorarlberg museum Bregenz, AKM Schwarzenberg, Munich 2018, pp. 256-287
Citation note:
Baumgärtel, Bettina: Angelica Kauffman – Source texts, in: Angelika Kauffmann Research Project – online, https://www.angelika-kauffmann.de/en/source-texts/ [add date of access here]