"Angelica e Élisabeth. L’età delle donne pittrici" exhibition in Naples

From  6 November to 7 March 2027, the Gallerie d'Italia - Napoli will be presenting “Angelica and Élisabeth. The Age of Women Painters” curated by Francesco Leone, Fernando Mazzocca and Elisabetta Rasy, in collaboration with the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca and with the patronage of the  City of Naples.

The exhibition brings together for the first time the lives, works and extraordinary careers of Angelica Kauffmann (1741–1807) and Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842), two artists who, by virtue of their historical significance and the quality of their work, can be numbered among the greatest female painters of all time.

Celebrated by their contemporaries, and leading figures on the European cultural scene, both managed to make their mark in a field generally dominated by men, earning prominent roles at the continent’s major courts and academies.

The exhibition itinerary traces their personal and professional lives through an extensive comparison of paintings and self-portraits, highlighting the similarities and differences between two personalities who were very different yet united by outstanding talent, unwavering determination and a modern awareness of their worth. The exhibition explores the two artists' different approaches to painting: on one hand, Angelica Kauffmann, a cultured and cosmopolitan artist, who excelled in painting history, allegorical themes, subjects inspired by literature and portraits; on the other, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, the unrivalled interpreter of aristocratic and court portraiture, famous for having immortalised Queen Marie Antoinette and members of the leading European noble families, from France to Russia. Angelica, attentive and thoughtful, a painter of grace; Élisabeth, spontaneous, direct and brilliant, a painter of the sublime.

A central part of the exhibition is dedicated to their relationships with Italy, a place that proved crucial to their training, success and international acclaim. Rome and Naples, in particular, form the backbone of the narrative, allowing visitors to explore the relationship they both enjoyed with the Bourbon court and with the cultural milieu of the Grand Tour. A comparison of works depicting the same subjects, and of their self-portraits, reveals the strength and determination of these two 18^th-century women in forging their own success and projecting a conscious image of themselves, becoming models of professional independence and female emancipation.

The exhibition provides an opportunity to rediscover two remarkable figures who, against the backdrop of the Enlightenment, Neoclassicism and the Revolution, helped redefine the role of the artist in European society, leaving a legacy destined to influence the history of art well beyond their own time.

This extraordinary story told through pictures pays particular attention to the many women painters who, building on the cultural achievements of the Enlightenment, established themselves as leading figures in Italy and France between the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries.