Colour
Description:
A woman with loose hair in a flowing costume sits on a grassy ledge. In one hand she carries an empty palate and several paintbrushes; with the other she uses a brush to take pigment from the rainbow arcing over her head. A chameleon sits at her feet. She is framed by rocks, trees, and flowers, and there are a few clouds in the bright sky behind her.
Copyright:
Copyright, 2009, Romantic Circles.
Accession Number:
03/1130
Height (in centimeters):
113
Width (in centimeters):
150
Exhibition History
Angelica Kauffman was commissioned to paint four allegorical figures representing the four components of painting: design, composition, invention, and color. They first decorated the Royal Academy’s location in Somerset House on the Strand, and were later moved to Burlington House; Colour, as well as the other three paintings, remains displayed on the ceiling of Burlington House (Eger 118).Associated Events
Kauffmann’s family came to Italy in 1752, where she began working as a portrait painter at age eleven (Gerard 6). She spent several years in Milan, interacting with the nobility whose portraits she painted, and learning a great deal about Italian culture and art (Gerard 10). She came to live in England in 1766 under the protection of Lady Wentworth, the wife of the English Resident at Venice (Gerard 35, 39). Soon afterwards she became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts (established in 1768), and her close friendship with Sir Joshua Reynolds, the founder of the Academy, helped her gain popularity and credibility as an artist (Gerard 114).Associated Places
The Royal Academy of ArtsAssociated Texts
Kauffman's Design, Composition, and Genius (1780)Subject
This allegorical portrayal of "color" as one of the four aspects of art is both classical and fantastic.Significance
Kauffman was one of only two female members of the Royal Academy from its founding until 1922. She was immensely popular and successful, painting Neoclassical subjects as well as portraiture and even historical events, a genre usually closed to women. Resourceful in the face of social restrictions, Kauffman used statues in place of the living models she was forbidden to observe (Gerard 75).Bibliography
Eger, Elizabeth, and Charlotte Grant. Women, Writing, and the Public Sphere 1700-1830. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001. Print.Long Title
Colour, ca. 1778-1780, Oil on canvas, 1300 X 1503 mm, Commissioned by Angelica Kauffman, R.A., 1778-1780, 03/1130Featured in Exhibit:
Painter:
Image Date:
1780