Joseph Johann Kauffmann (27 February 1707 – 11 January 1782); other first name spellings in references: Josef Johann, Johann Joseph) was an Austrian painter known for his portraits, church decorations and castle depictions. Along with his wife Cleophea Lutz he had a single child, his daughter

Angelika Kauffmann Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, ...

(*1741), is also remembered as a painter.

Life

He was born in Schwarzenberg, Austria, and is described as a relatively poor man with painting skills. The original family home was a small village in the Austrian alps called Schwarzenberg in the Vorarlberg area. In the years 1740 to 1742 he was in duty of the prince-bishop from Chur/Switzerland. In 1755 the family moved to Milan until in 1757 the mother died and father with daughter returned to Schwarzenberg. There they helped in painting the interiors of the recently heavily fire damaged local church house. The father concentrated on the general interior whilst his daughter worked on the apostle images. At a later time she donated the high altar piece in form of paintings from her own hand. In the same period the church painting took place the family was traveling the nearby northern lakeside of Lake Constance doing works for the Tettnang seated Montfort counts in form of castle depictions and similar, and going further to Meersburg and even Konstanz. In 1760 they left for Italy again in order to do studies on classical and Renaissance art there. Whilst the travels they earned money by portraying locals along their path. Up to 1766 they went to Rome with intermediate halts in Milan,

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

and Florence. On 5 October 1762 the daughter received honorable membership of the ''Accademia di Bologna''. In 1764 this got topped by joining the ''Accademia di San Luca'' in Rome on a similar base. The traveling Englishman and actor

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...

gave the daughter the chance to portrait her which in turn went into her master piece making her finally famous. On recommendation of Lady Wentworth both moved to London and stayed there starting 1766. He was the person who taught his daughter painting at the age of 11 that helped her much in her later career all across Europe including England and Italy up to being a foundation member of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

. Even in later years some travels along with or for meeting with his daughter have obviously taken place. A strong relation to Italy was further there as he successfully recommended his daughter to marry the venetian painter

Antonio Zucchi Antonio Pietro Francesco Zucchi (1 May 1726 – 1 December 1795) was an Italian painter and printmaker of the Neoclassic period. Life Zucchi was born in Venice, he studied under his uncle Carlo Zucchi and later Francesco Fontebasso and Jacopo ...

for her second partner. The marriage took place in Juli 1781. As a result, father and the couple travelled south visiting Flandern, Schwarzenberg, Verona and Padua. In October of the same year they arrived in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, where Kauffmann died in the following January.

Resources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kauffmann, Johann Joseph 1707 births 1782 deaths 18th-century Austrian painters 18th-century Austrian male artists Austrian male painters Angelica Kauffman