There Kauffman studied works by the Old Masters, and had her first painting sent to a public exhibition in London. While learning more English and continuing her portraiture, a few months later the family moved again to Naples. Moving to Rome in January 1763, Kauffman was introduced to the British community. Kauffman and her family moved to Florence in June 1762, where the young artist first discovered the painting style that was coined Neoclassical painting. She became a member of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in 1762. Later visits to Italy of long duration followed. In 1754, her mother died and her father decided to move to Milan. She quickly chose art as a Catholic priest told her that the opera was a dangerous place filled with 'seedy people.' By her twelfth year she had already become known as a painter, with bishops and nobles sitting for her. She also showed talent as a musician and was forced to choose between opera and art. Angelica, a child prodigy, rapidly acquired several languages from her mother, Cleophea Lutz, including German, Italian, French and English. He trained Angelica and she worked as his assistant, moving through Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Her father, Joseph Johann Kauffmann, was a relatively poor man but a skilled Austrian muralist and painter, who was often travelling for his work. In 1757, she accompanied her father to Schwarzenberg in Vorarlberg/ Austria where her father was working for the local bishop. Her family moved to Morbegno in 1742, then Como in Lombardy in 1752 at that time under Austrian rule.

Kauffman was born at Chur in Graubünden, Switzerland. Harmonious and powerful colours and the soft-brushed, multi-layered style of English portraitists, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough, are typical for Kauffmann's paintings.

Detail of Tragedy and Comedy, painted in Rome in 1791 ( National Museum in Warsaw).

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