Francesco Bartolozzi after Angelika Kauffman.

Coriolanus. From an original painting in the collection of George Shepherd Esq.

24 x 21½ inches

A stipple plate engraving printed in sanguine ink, engraved by Bartolozzi after Angelika Kauffman and published in London in 1785.

This scene from the 5th Act of Shakespeare's famous historic tragedy, Coriolanus, shows the Roman general suddenly surrounded by his family: Virgilia, Volumnia, Valeria and (breaking the 'v' theme) his young son Martus. This beautiful image is the product of two titans of The Royal Academy in the 1780s. Both Bartolozzi and Kauffman were elected as founding members of the RA in 1768. This is not all they shared; both were born overseas, Kauffman in Switzerland and Bartolozzi in Italy, and both had their most productive and successful years in London. Angelika Kauffman was an acclaimed neo classical artist and, somewhat conveniently, great friend of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Bartolozzi had perfected the method of stipple engraving that proved to be particularly appropriate for the rendition of classical, romantic and mythological subjects. It was most fortuitous for both that they were working in London at the same time and could abet each other's careers.

£975