Frederick de Horn (died 1780 or 1781) (real name Brandt) was the first husband of the painter Angelica Kauffman. According to contemporary sources, which may not be reliable, he was an imposter and bigamist who posed as a Swedish count.

Marriage to Angelica Kauffman

Drawing of Angelica Kauffman by Nathaniel Dance, c. 1767.[1]

Brandt is chiefly known for his marriage to the Swiss painter Angelica Kauffman, whom he met in London in 1766 or 1767, where she had opened a studio after arriving from the continent.[2] The couple married at the Anglican St James's Church, Piccadilly, on 22 November 1767[3] in front of the Rev. Baddeley. The witnesses were Annie and Richard Horne. Sources hintt at a possible second ceremony at a local Catholic church, but there is no evidence for it. Such a ceremony would have been risky, as the anti-Catholic penal laws were still in force, mandating execution for Catholic priests who married Catholics and imprisonment for the newlyweds.[4]

A drawing of Kauffman by Nathaniel Dance (c. 1767), now in the British Museum, shows her with a wedding ring and her hand over her heart, indicating love.[1]

The couple lived apart, and relations between them quickly broke down. It was speculated in contemporary sources that the marriage was unconsummated and that Horn was impotent.

Following the breakdown of the marriage, it was said that Brandt was revealed to be a bigamist who had married in Hildesheim, Hanover (now Germany), in 1765. It was further said that he used false names, calling himself Studerat in Amsterdam, Rosenkranz in Breslau, and Buckle or Burckle in Sweden. He was said to have posed as a colonel in the army of Frederick the Great. It was said that he was the illegitimate son of Count de Horn and a maidservant Christina Brandt who had been brought up in the count's household.[4]

Kauffman and her father paid Horn off, and he left England for the continent; the marriage was dissolved in February 1768.[2]

Death

Brandt died in 1780,[4] or 1781,[5] and Kauffman soon after married Antonio Zucchi.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 1898,0712.72. The British Museum. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 Chronology. Angelica Kauffman Research Project. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  3. ↑ Mayer, Dorothy Moulton. (1972) Angelica Kauffmann, R.A. 1741-1807. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe. pp. 57-63. ISBN 0900675683
  4. 1 2 3 Manners, Victoria; Williamson, George Charles (30 January 2018). "Angelica Kauffmann, R.A., her life and her works". New York, Brentano's. Retrieved 30 January 2018 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ↑ Death of Angelica Kauffman. Richard Cavendish, HistoryToday. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  6. ↑ "Kauffman and the art of painting in England" by Wendy Wassyng Roworth in Wendy Wassyng Roworth (Ed.) (1992) Angelica Kauffman: A continental artist in Georgian England. London: Reaktion Books. p. 14. ISBN 0948462418
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