Angelica Kauffman is one of the very few female masters whose name and work have survived in European art history. Kauffman was born in Switzerland and was trained in painting by her father from a very early age. Subsequently she lived in several major European art centres of the eighteenth century, including Milan, Florence, Rome, Venice and later London, where she was admired for her great talent, particularly in portraiture. In 1768, her distinguished position among her contemporaries was acknowledged officially when she was nominated as an inaugural member of the Royal Academy in London.

The deserted Costanza — one of four panels the artist executed for a major commission in Rome in 1783 — illustrates a scene from Pietro Metastasio’s operetta, Isola Disabitata. The painting depicts Costanza, who believes she has been abandoned by her husband, Gernand, carving her testimony to him on a rock with his broken sword.

By the traitor Gernando
Costanza is abandoned to herself
In this strange land
Passing friend!
If a tiger thou are not
Either vindicate or commiserate my misfortunes