The Vow: A Novel About Angelica Kauffman
- N.J. Mastro
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
During the five years I’ve been writing Herstory Revisited, one thing has stood out to me. Readers love historical fiction featuring art and artists! Art has way of connecting us to the past visually and emotionally. No other medium does that.
“I can’t remember dying. It happened so quickly. So quietly. Like the moment of midnight passing into the morrow. Like a rainbow, its colors already faint, fading into the clouds.”
So begins The Vow, a biographical novel about Angelica Kauffman by Jude Berman. It’s a whopper of a prologue; the prose is consistently poetic throughout, making this a more-than-satisfying read.
In case you aren’t familiar with the protagonist, and I wasn’t, Angelica Kauffman is the eighteenth-century Swiss artist who defied the norms of her day. A history painter and a portraitist, she achieved celebrity status during her lifetime. Included in the roughly fifteen hundred paintings she left behind are portraits of famous individuals along with scenes from literature and mythology and the occassional landscape.
The cover alone made me want to read this book. Isn’t it gorgeous? It is, of course, a painting by Kauffman. If you’re an art connoisseur, you can probably name it. Please show off and tell readers in the comments section!
Kauffman found fame early and wielded it like a modern-day social media influencer. That’s not all. Among many other firsts, she was one of only two women to serve as founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Her astonishing career as an artist is a feat considering that as a female she was barred from enrolling in an art academy.
Be sure to read through to the end of this post to find out where you can hear more about The Vow, Angelica Kauffman, and three other novels featuring art.
Fortunately, women like Angelica Kauffman found other ways to conquer the maze of limitations on their sex we so often encounter in history. Chapter One of The Vow takes readers back in time. Instead of at the end of her life, we are in Venice in 1765. Angelica is twenty-four. She’s painting a replica of Assumption by Titian in the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari when she hears the Virgin Mary speak to her, saying. “Soar beyond what you know. Paint with your soul. Paint for God!”
The intensity of the scene introduces readers to Angelica’s passion and underscores her burning desire to paint. It’s all she wants to do. She’s already tasted the sweet nectar of success as a history painter, unheard of for young women. She owes her entry to her art career to her father, a mural painter, who has been nurturing her talent and managing her budding career.
But there are challenges as well. Her family moves frequently. There is never enough money. And the annoying Antonio Zucchi, an artist who has wormed his way into her family circle, tries to control her. Despite her objection to Antonio, he has garnered her father’s favor and lodges with her family.
“What a mockery!” he taunts, meaning Angelica’s painting. She despises him. Antonio and others like him think a female cannot and should not paint. That doesn’t keep him from insisting she join forces with him. Antonio knows a good thing when he sees it.
Just as Angelica is about to give in to Antonio, she meets Lady Wentworth, the wife of the British ambassador to Venice. Lady Wentworth commissions Angelica to paint her portrait. Angelica prefers history painting, art capturing a moment or event from the past, but she is intrigued by the offer. More may come from it, she thinks. Angelica hopes Lady Wentworth will introduce her to potential patrons. During the era, artists were dependent on wealthy individuals to support them. And she would be escaping Antonio’s constant badgering.
Angelica’s intuition serves her well. Before long, she finds herself traveling with Lady Wentworth to England, where she will live with the ambassador’s wife while painting her portrait.
A new world opens for Angelica, one that rockets her to the height of the eighteenth-century art world. Angelica has committed herself to painting with her soul. As the story progresses, however, it becomes apparent her fate rests on hanging onto her soul in a patriarchal society that seeks to control her any way it can. Lady Wentworth and others intend to groom Angelica into a proper young lady.
So Who Was the Real Angelica Kauffman?
As a biographical novel, The Vow incorporates Angelica Kauffman’s actual history, making it the perfect springboard for learning about this remarkable artist. Berman draws other artists into the story as well, including the greats like Joshua Reynolds, George Moser, Henry Fuseli, and Benjamin West, iconic figures in European art history.
Born in Switzerland in 1741, Angelica Kaufmann was a child art prodigy. Her style was neoclassical. She depicted the ideals, themes, and aesthetics of ancient Greece and Rome. She also painted landscapes besides art history and portraits.
In 1766 she did in fact move to London with Lady Wentworth, where she formed friendships with other painters rising alongside her in the ranks. Her talent was so highly regarded, the royal family commissioned her to paint members of the royal family, including Queen Charlotte.
When the Royal Academy of Arts was formed in 1768, Angelica was included in the original thirty-six founding members, along with Mary Moser, the only other woman. Allowed to display her paintings at the Academy further helped Angelica establish her reputation. She often chose women as her subjects, which set her apart from her male counterparts.
In 1781 Angelica moved to Rome but kept sending paintings back to London. She continued her work as a portraitist and as a history painter and ended up living the rest of her adult life in Rome, where she died in 1807 at the age of sixty-six. Today, her paintings can be seen in art galleries around the world.
Less is known about Angelica’s personal life. Preferring to curate her own history and let her art define her legacy, she burned her private letters before her death. Still, Berman manages to include much of what is known about Angelica Kauffman in The Vow. I avoid spoilers in my reviews, so I won’t say more other than Berman did her homework. She brings Angelica to life in a way that is vivid and relatable to modern readers, elevating The Vow into a timeless yet cautionary tale about a woman’s quest to stay faithful to her truest powers.
The Art of Independence - A Special Opportunity
Prior to writing my review, I reached out to Jude Berman for a conversation and invited two other authors whose books about artists I’ve reviewed for Herstory Revisited, Lisa Groen and Joan Fernandez (see what their books are about at the end of this post).
The four of us talked about our amazing women protagonists and what makes them so memorable, as well as the opportunities and challenges of incorporating art and artists into a novel. We recorded our conversation and are releasing it on July 14th. I'll be posting the link here on Herstory Revisited and on my social media channels If you liked reading this review, then I know you will enjoy our behind the scenes look at novels featuring art and artists.
Below is a short teaser of what you can expect.
A stunning revelation to me was the amount of crossover between our protagonists and how the themes surrounding female empowerment they encountered hundreds of years ago continue to mark a woman’s journey.
Thanks for reading. I’m glad you’re here. To receive my next post in your email box, be sure to follow me on any page on my website.
Jude Berman is the author of The Vow. You can check out Jude’s Substack here.
Joan Fernandez is the author of Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh, which centers around the artwork of Vincent Van Gogh through the main character of his sister-in-law, Jo, the woman who saved Vincent’s art from obscurity. Read my review of Saving Vincent last year at this link. Check out Joan’s Substack here.
Lisa Groen is the author of The Cassatt Sisters: A Novel of Love and Art is biofiction about the artist Mary Cassatt. You can read my prior review of The Cassatt Sisters at this link. Check out Lisa’s Substack here.
Solitary Walker is my novel about Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary was enamored by the artist Henry Fuseli, who prior to meeting Mary, had courted Angelica Kauffman. Fuseli shows up in both novels. Three portraits of Mary are also featured in Solitary Walker, representing portraiture as an early form of photography.
PS: This post contains affiliate links at NJ’s Bookshelf on Bookshop.org.
PSS: Please pardon any typos. This review was written by a human!
