Portrait of David Garrick

Kauffman painted David Garrick in 1764, during her first years in London. Garrick was the most celebrated figure on the English stage. He was painted by Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Hogarth, making his face one of the most recognizable in Georgian England. Kauffmann's portraits deploy the Neoclassical vocabulary she mastered in Rome — clear line, restrained color, antique costume references — to produce likenesses that were simultaneously fashionable and learned. As a founding member of the Ro...

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.