Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 30.djvu/249

 Reynolds's scheme for the decoration of St. Paul's, 1772, but failed in the competition. Reynolds quarrelled with Nathaniel Hone [q. v.] in 1775 on account of a fancied insult to Angelica and himself, which he detected in one of Hone's pictures (, Nollekens and his Times, i. 147–9). In 1771 Angelica spent seven months in Ireland, where she stayed with the viceroy, Lord Londonderry, Lord Ely, Lord Robinson, and others, painting family portraits and decorating her hosts' houses. In England she seems to have been often employed by the famous brothers Adam, and ceilings and decorations by her hand may be found in many London and country houses of the period.

Ultimately her father's failing health obliged her to leave England. On 14 July 1781 she married Antonio Zucchi, a Venetian painter (born 1728), long resident in London, and also an associate of the Academy, and five days later left London, travelling by way of Holland and Schwarzenberg to Italy. They spent the winter at Venice, making acquaintance with the Emperor Paul and the Empress of Russia (travelling incognito), for whom Angelica executed a picture of the death of Leonardo da Vinci. Angelica's father died at Venice 2 Jan. 1782. Angelica (who retained her maiden name) went on with her husband to Rome, where she spent the remainder of her life. To the last she was the centre of a circle of admirers. Goethe when in Rome in 1787 professed a sentimental attachment to her. She painted his portrait, and he read her the manuscript of ‘Iphigenia;’ he afterwards sent her ‘Egmont,’ and corresponded with her (see vol. v. of Goethe Society Publications). Despite his enthusiasm for her personally, Goethe's estimate of her paintings was tempered by just criticism (ib. and Goethe, Winckelmann und sein Jahrhundert).

Two other German poets, Klopstock and Gessner, wrote verses to Angelica. Joseph II made her acquaintance in Rome in 1784, and much admired her; and for him, for the queen of Naples, for Catherine II of Russia, and for Stanislaus, king of Poland, she executed many of her late historical, religious, and allegorical pictures. A large historical picture which she painted in 1792 for Pope Pius VI for the church of Loretto, was copied by his desire in mosaic. Both Morghens were friends of hers, and touched up some of her pictures.

Her husband died in 1795, and the revolution of 1798 involved Angelica in heavy money losses, but she refused pressing invitations to England. Early in 1802 she visited Florence, Milan, Como, and Venice for the last time. Her health was now failing, but in 1805 her mind was still active, and she continued to paint till the last. She died peacefully at Rome on 5 Nov. 1807, aged 66, a cousin, who had lived many years with her, nursing her to the end. The funeral in the church of Sant' Andrea delle Fratte on 7 Nov. was conducted with much pomp. Canova personally superintended the arrangements, while the academicians of St. Luke (of which academy Angelica was a member) carried the pall, and bore two of her pictures. Her will, dated 17 June 1803, is, with other documents and portraits, extant at Dornbirn, near Bregenz, and is printed at length in the ‘Zeitschrift für bildende Künst,’ xxiv. 294. In 1808 her bust was placed in the Pantheon at Rome.

In person Angelica was of medium height, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes, regular features, and an expression of vivacity and good-humour, which seems to have been her chief fascination. Her personal attractions partly account for the exaggerated praise showered on her art by her contemporaries. Her drawing and anatomy are faulty; her figures, male and female, are monotonous and vapid, and the composition of her groups is bad. She attempted to develope what has been well called the sentimentality of the antique, a style much admired in the eighteenth century. On the other hand, the grace and charm of her work are undeniable; her colouring, though often crude, is warm and fresh, and she excelled in house decoration of the ornamental type in vogue in her day. Very few of her portraits display much distinctive character. Her pictures lend themselves well to engraving, and about six hundred engravings were executed of them by the famous engravers of the time, including Bartolozzi, Ryland, T. Burke, Bettelini, Scorodomoff, Morghen, and Schiavametti. About two hundred of these, together with some of Angelica's original drawings and etchings, are in the print room at the British Museum. The artist herself learnt engraving, and etched about thirty-one plates. Many of these were published by Boydell, who employed her in illustrating his ‘Shakespeare Gallery,’ and she took some part in illustrating Bell's ‘British Theatre.’ Among her etchings the best-known are: a marriage of St. Catherine, after Correggio; a half-length of Hope, dedicated to the Academy of St. Luke; a girl reading; two philosophers with a book; ‘L'Allegro,’ and ‘Il Penseroso,’ and a portrait of Winckelmann. A catalogue of her etchings is given in ‘Der Deutsche Peintre-Graveur von Andersen u. Weigel,’ v. 5, 380.