Artists
Anton Raphael Mengs
- Country:
- Germany
- Birth year:
- 1728
- Death year:
- 1779
Anton Raphael Mengs (1728 Usti nad Labem, Czech.-1779 Rome) first studied with his father, the Dresden miniaturist Ismael Mengs, He spent 1741 to 1744 in Rome, studying the art of classical antiquity and the Renaissance. Upon his return to Dresden, Mengs became the court painter to August II of Saxony (1696-1763). Except for a second journey to Rome in 1747-1749, Mengs remained in Dresden until 1752, when he again returned to Italy. In 1760, the artist was appointed court painter by King Charles III (1716-1788) in Madrid, where he took up residence two years later and remained until 1777, aside from another period in Rome between 1769 and 1774. Mengs spent the last two years of his life in Rome. He concentrated on portraits and narrrative paintings, the earliest of which reveal a Rococo influence; later Mengs devoted himself to an academic neoclassicism, Contempraries, including Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768) among others, exuberantly praised his work, and he enjoyed the highest international recognition. Works by he artist include Assumption of the Virgin, 1751-1766, Court Church, Dresden; Johann Joachim Wincklelmann, c. 1760, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and Parnassus, 1760/61, Villa Albani, Rome.