Portrait of David Garrick

Kauffmann painted David Garrick in 1764, during her first years in London when she was rapidly establishing herself in the highest circles of English society and culture. Garrick was the most celebrated figure on the English stage, the man who had transformed British theatrical culture and whose face was painted by Reynolds, Gainsborough, Hogarth, and now by the young Swiss artist. To paint Garrick was to enter the most prominent arena of English cultural life, and Kauffmann's portrait demonstrates her ambition and her connections at this early stage of her English career. Kauffmann's Neoclassical vocabulary, acquired through years of study in Rome, gave her a repertoire of classical allusions and formal refinements that distinguished her work from the more straightforward realism of many British portraitists. As a founding member of the Royal Academy when it was established in 1768, she would soon occupy the institutional summit of British art, and this early portrait of Garrick marks the beginning of her extraordinary English success.

Kauffman presents Garrick with vivacity appropriate to the greatest actor of the age. Her handling combines Continental soft modeling with careful attention to his animated features.