Mrs. Hugh Morgan and Her Daughter
c. 1771
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
63.2 × 76.3 cm (24 7/8 × 30 in.); Framed: 76.9 × 89.8 × 10.2 cm (30 1/4 × 35 3/8 × 4 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
12658
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
Painted around 1771 by Angelica Kauffmann, *Mrs. Hugh Morgan and Her Daughter* captures an intimate moment between mother and child in the refined style of late eighteenth-century portraiture. Kauffmann, one of the era’s most celebrated female artists and a founding member of London’s Royal Academy, brought her neoclassical training to bear on such works, blending graceful composition with a sense of warmth and natural elegance. The modest scale of this oil on canvas—roughly 25 by 30 inches—suggests it was intended for private display, inviting viewers into the quiet domestic world of the sitters. Kauffmann’s fluid brushwork and soft color harmonies highlight the tender connection between the figures while reflecting the Enlightenment-era interest in sentiment and family bonds. As a Swiss-born painter active across Europe, she skillfully navigated the male-dominated art world, producing portraits that balanced fashionable appeal with genuine emotional resonance. Today housed in the Art Institute of Chicago’s European painting collection, the work offers visitors a glimpse into both personal affection and the artistic ambitions of one of the period’s pioneering women.
About the Artist
Angelica Kauffmann · 1741–1807
Swiss painter and etcher, and one of the few women artists of the time working in the Neo-Classical style to specialize in both portraits and subject pictures. Her famous sitters include the family of George III in Britain, Grand-Duke Paul and Prince Nikolay Yusupov in Russia, Stanislav II Poniatowski and Stanislav Kostka Potocki in Poland, Queen Caroline of Naples and Emperor Joseph II of Austria...