The Poor Swiss Girl Who Painted Her Way Into the Neoclassical Canon

Angelica Kauffman built one of the most successful painting careers of the Neoclassical era, at a time when the art world rarely made space for a woman to work at all. She came up from modest beginnings, born to a Swiss family without money or standing behind her, and turned that unlikely start into a name still recognized wherever the period is collected. For anyone who follows Neoclassical painting, her rise remains the kind of career that rewards a second look: proof that a reputation built centuries ago can still hold its ground in a market that prizes craft above pedigree.

With reporting from The Collector.