The Cultural Performance of Friendship: Angelica Kauffman and ‘the All Harmonious Triad’ (William, James, and Henrietta Fordyce)

Taking as its starting point Angelica Kauffman's portrait of Sir William Fordyce MD, who cared for her ailing father in 1780–81, this article investigates the cultural performances generated by Kauffman's friendship with William, James, and Henrietta Fordyce. Collectively described by Kauffman as ‘the all harmonious Triad’, this article examines the performances relating to each individual — paintings, portraiture, poetry, engravings, letters, and gift-giving. Exploring how these intersected with contemporary gender ideology, literature and print culture, it considers Kauffman's nuanced relationship with and import to each individual, demonstrating the value of this friendship to the histories of eighteenth-century British art and culture.