Porträt des Franz Konrad von Rodt (1706-1775)

This 1757 portrait of Franz Konrad von Rodt is an early work by the teenage Kauffmann, painted when she was only sixteen. The portrait of this ecclesiastical figure demonstrates the precocious talent that would lead her to international fame within a decade. Kauffmann painted in oil on canvas using the controlled clear technique she developed through years of study in Rome, where she arrived in 1763 and became part of Winckelmann's Neoclassical circle. Her long Roman period (1781–1807) produc...

The early portrait already shows Kauffmann's confident handling and ability to capture individual character, though with less of the refined elegance that would characterize her mature work.