The National Gallery has acquired its first history painting in oils by the celebrated 18th-century artist Angelica Kauffmann, marking a significant moment for one of Britain’s most visited cultural institutions. The work, Achilles discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes, forms part of a gift of three paintings by Swiss artists donated by Dallas-based collectors Richard and Luba Barrett, all of which went on public display on 2 July 2026.
Kauffmann (1741–1807) was one of the most prominent painters of her era, and her connection to Britain runs deep. She was among only two women to be founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts when it was established in 1768 — a distinction that underlines both her exceptional standing and the rarity of female recognition in the academic art world of the period. She later moved to Rome, where she painted the newly acquired work between 1787 and 1788, at the height of her European fame.
The painting’s arrival at Trafalgar Square ends a lengthy gap in the Gallery’s holdings. An earlier Kauffmann work was bequeathed to the institution in 1835 but was subsequently transferred to what is now Tate Britain. That picture was later lent to the Guildhall in Plymouth, where it is believed to have been destroyed during the Plymouth Blitz in 1941. The newly gifted canvas is therefore the first by Kauffmann to enter the National Gallery’s collection since then.
A Mythological Masterpiece with Imperial Connections
The subject matter draws on one of Greek mythology’s most dramatic episodes. Achilles, whose death in the Trojan War had been foretold, was disguised as a girl by his mother Thetis and placed among the ladies at the court of King Lycomedes. His cover was broken when the heroes Ulysses and Diomedes presented gifts of clothes, jewellery and weapons to the court — and Achilles instinctively reached for the arms. Kauffmann’s canvas, measuring 103.2 by 130.8 centimetres in oil on canvas, is an unusually large and fully worked preparatory study for a final commission from Catherine the Great. That finished painting now resides in the Scientific-Research Museum of the Academy of Arts of Russia in St Petersburg. The preparatory work’s scale and level of finish make it a significant object in its own right, offering visitors a rare insight into Kauffmann’s creative process.
Kauffmann’s Achilles discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes is on display in Room 37. Sir Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery, said:
