which show the various aspects of her artistic talent.

<b>KAUFFMAN, ANGELICA.</b> An original member of the London Academy. She
was essentially an Italian artist, since from the age of eleven she lived
in Italy and there studied her art. Such different estimates have been
made of her works that one may quote a good authority in either praise or
blame of her artistic genius and attainment.

Kugler, a learned, unimpassioned critic, says: "An easy talent for
composition, though of no depth; a feeling for pretty forms, though they
were often monotonous and empty, and for graceful movement; a coloring
blooming and often warm, though occasionally crude; a superficial but
agreeable execution, and especially a vapid sentimentality in harmony
with the fashion of the time--all these causes sufficiently account for
her popularity."

[Illustration: Alinari, Photo.

In the Uffizi, Florence

PORTRAIT OF ANGELICA KAUFFMAN

PAINTED BY HERSELF]

Raphael Mengs, himself an artist, thus esteems her: "As an artist she is
the pride of the female sex in all times and all nations. Nothing is
wanting--composition, coloring, fancy--all are here."

Miss Kate Thompson writes: "Her works showed no originality nor any great
power of execution, and, while sometimes graceful, were generally weak
and insipid."

For myself I do not find her worthy of superlative praise or
condemnation; one cannot deny her grace in design, which was also
creditably correct; her poetical subjects were pleasing in arrangement;
her historical subjects lacked strength and variety in expression; her
color was as harmonious and mellow as that of the best Italian colorists,
always excepting a small number of the greatest masters, and in all her
pictures there is a something--it must have been the individuality of
the artist--that leads one to entertain a certain fondness for her, even
while her shortcomings are fully recognized.

The story of Angelica Kauffman's life is of unusual interest. She was
born at Coire, in the Grisons. 1742-1807. Her father, an artist, had gone
from Schwarzenburg to Coire to execute some frescoes in a church, and had
married there. When Angelica was a year old the family settled in
Morbegno, in Lombardy. Ten years later, when the child had already shown
her predilection for painting and music, a new home was made for her in
Como, where there were better advantages for her instruction.

Her progress in music was phenomenal, and for a