(Chur 1741-1807 Rome)
Mother and Child with an Apple, 1763, etching on laid paper, monogrammed and dated AK fec. 1763 (AK ligated) in the plate, formerly inscribed: "H XV ..." (?) on the lower left of the recto in pencil (erased today), inscribed in the lower midst "zu 9755 /2 Bll HOZZ" in pencil on the reverse, 14 x 11 cm, with broad margins along platemarks, III. state (of VII), with the reworkings in the whole background. Prior to the new signature with the mentioning of Florence and prior to the numerous reworkings including the curls of the child, the addition of the mother’s cap and the wall in the background and the reworkings with roulette and aquatint, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Vaduz/Vienna, Die Fürstlichen Sammlungen Liechtenstein;
before 1979 Düsseldorf, Kunstantiquariat C. G. Boerner, Düsseldorf;
Private collection, Germany

Literature:
Andresen No. 32 and Nagler Monogr. I, 1858 (state not described)
Angelika Kauffmann und ihre Zeit. Graphik und Zeichnungen von 1760-1810, herausgegeben und bearbeitet von Ruth-Maria Muthmann, Marianna Küffner und Anne Rövert, Kunstantiquariat C. G. Boerner, Neue Lagerliste 70, Düsseldorf 1979, Cat. No. 8, Ill.;
Exhibition catalogue Angelika Kauffmann, Retrospektive, written and edited by Bettina Baumgärtel, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf 1998, p. 118, Cat. No. 10, ill.;
Exhibition catalogue Angelika Kauffmann. Unbekannte Schätze aus Vorarlberger Privaten Sammlungen, compiled and edited by Bettina Baumgärtel, Kulturstiftung Dessau Wörlitz, Vorarlberg Museum Bregenz, Munich 2018, p. 139-141, Cat. No. 57, ill.
With a certificate by Dr. Bettina Baumgärtel of 19th Jan. 2024 (in copy)

We are grateful to Dr. Bettina Baumgärtel, head of the Angelika Kauffmann Research Project - AKRP for the scientific support.

„Mother and Child with an Apple” is among the early etchings by Angelika Kauffmann and was her third etching which she executed in Florence in 1763. It can be regarded as her first independent achievement in the field of printmaking, as this is the first time that the artist did not work from another finished work of art but rather from a life model which can be observed by the immediate turn of the sitter towards the viewer. In addition, this is the first genre scene of the artist. Kaufmann depicted an everyday event and although the sitters are not known by name, it seems that they are portraits of persons, which the artist encountered in Florence. According to today’s knowledge seven stages of the reworked plate and therefore seven states are known. Kaufmann began the plate in Florence and reworked it in four stages at the beginning of 1763. Initially the fourth state was considered as completed and was apparently published in a small edition. Later the plate was printed again in London and thereafter reworked in aquatint by James Boydell and published again. Only five impressions of the present state proof are hitherto known (Vienna, Albertina, Vorarlberg, Private collection etc.). The present print must be regarded as very rare. The precisely executed print with its delicate plate tone has a provenance which goes back to the collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein.