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Angelica Kaufman is so successful that when she comes to England as a young woman in 1766 a word is coined: Angelicamad.
'Miller's intricate fictions are lit by the dark flicker of a strong and original imagination.' - Hilary Mantel
This sparky, true life novel tells the life story of a woman who battled misogyny to become one of the greatest artists of the Enlightenment Period. After fifteen triumphant years in London, she flees to Italy following the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots.
In Rome, as an old lady, a lively young artist and model names Lucia is Angelica's guest. And she's pregnant, ridded with the scandal Angelica has been trying to avoid all her life.
She is the girl I trained myself not to be.
Men can do as they like, but women risk losing everything. In her studio, Angelica relives her journey from a poor background to international fame. She paints her friends (Antonio Canova, Germaine de Stael, Emma Hamilton and Goethe among others) and draws us into her fascinating past. Angelica, Paintress of Minds tells of a gifted and powerful woman with a kind heart.
About the author
London-based Miranda Miller has written seven novels, a volume of short stories about expat life in Saudi Arabia, and a book of interviews with homeless women and politicians. She was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the Courtauld Institute from 2013-15. Hilary Mantel has written of her work, ‘Miller’s intricate fictions are lit by the dark flicker of a strong and original imagination.’ The Royal Academy Magazine chose her novel The Fairy Visions of Richard Dadd as one of their six Christmas books of the year in 2013.
Summary
A fictionalised autobiography of Angelica Kaufmann, one of the two female founders of the Royal Academy
