From Como she was taken to Milan, where she had still better advantages for study, and a world of art was opened to her which far exceeded her most ardent imaginings.  Leonardo had lived and taught in Milan, and his influence with that of other Lombard masters stirred Angelica to her very soul.

Her pictures soon attracted the attention of Robert d’Este, who became her patron and placed her in the care of the Duchess of Carrara.  This early association with a circle of cultured and elegant men and women was doubtless the origin of the self-possession and modest dignity which characterized Angelica Kauffman through life and enabled her becomingly to accept the honors that were showered upon her.

Her happy life at Milan ended all too soon.  Her mother died, and her father decided to return to his native Schwarzenburg to execute some extensive decorative works in that vicinity.  In the interior decoration of a church Angelica painted in fresco the figures of the twelve apostles after engravings from the works of Piazetta.

The coarse, homely life of Schwarzenburg was in extreme contrast to that of Milan and was most uncongenial to a sensitive nature; but Angelica was saved from melancholy by the companionship she felt in the grand pine forests, which soothed her discontent, while her work left her little time to pine for the happiness she had left or even to mourn the terrible loss of her mother.

Her father’s restlessness returned, and they were again in Milan for a short time, and then in Florence.  Here she studied assiduously awhile, but again her father’s discontent drove him on, and they went to Rome.

Angelica was now eighteen years old, and in a measure was prepared to profit by the aid and advice of Winckelmann.  He conceived an ardent friendship for the young artist, and, though no longer young, and engaged in most important and absorbing research, he found time to interest himself in Angelica’s welfare, and allowed her to paint his portrait, to which she gave an expression which proved that she had comprehended the spirit of this remarkable man of threescore years.

While at Rome Angelica received a commission to copy some pictures in Naples.  After completing these she returned to Rome, in 1764, and continued her studies for a time, but her interests were again sacrificed to her father’s unreasonable capriciousness, and she was taken to Bologna and then to Venice.  This constant change was disheartening to Angelica and of the greatest disadvantage to her study, and it was most fortunate that she now met Lady Wentworth, who became her friend and afterward took her to England.

Angelica had already executed commissions for English families of rank whom she had met in various cities of Italy, and her friends hoped that she would be able to earn more money in England than in Italy, where there were numberless artists and copyists.  After visiting Paris she went to London, where a brilliant career awaited her, not only as an artist, but in the social world as well.