# Portrait of John Apthorp and His Daughters [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [KAUFFMANN, Angelica]() - Date: 1751-1800 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 97 x 135 cm ## Commentary John Apthorp \(1730-1772\) was the son of the prosperous Boston merchant Charles Apthorp \(1698-1758\). In 1763, he and his family, which included two daughters, Grizzell and Catharine, set sail for Italy. They met Angelica Kauffmann in Rome and sat to the painter in the summer of 1764. In the present canvas, Kauffmann chose a horizontal format to accommodate the figures of the two young daughters, who stand embracing each other at the left. Their father glances down to them, seated in a chair and dressed in a red velvet suit, his arm resting on a table. It was suggested in the literature that the figures of the two girls had been added at a later date, however, it is debated. ## Related artworks - [Ariadne Abandoned by Theseus on Naxos]() - [Bacchus and Ariadne]() - [Diana and Her Nymphs Bathing]() - [Portrait of a Woman as a Vestal Virgin]() - [Portrait of a Woman Dressed as Vestal Virgin]() - [Portrait of a Woman]() - [Portrait of a Young Woman]() - [Portrait of Charles Brudenell-Bruce]() - [Portrait of General James Masterson]() - [Portrait of Henrietta Maria Hill]() - [Portrait of Prince Stanislaus Poniatowski]() - [Self-Portrait]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()