Baroque and Rococo

 

Baroque and Rococo Art Map

Anton Raphael Mengs




 

Anton Raphael Mengs

(b Ústi nad Labem [Ger. Aussig], Bohemia (now in Czech Republic), 12 March 1728; d Rome, 29 June 1779).

Painter and writer, brother of Theresia Concordia Mengs. His early career was at the Dresden court; thereafter he worked principally in Rome and Madrid, notably on the frescoes at the Villa Albani and the Palacio Real respectively. As an early exponent of Neo-classicism he produced some impressive classical and religious scenes, though he was most accomplished as a portrait painter. Under the influence of Johann Joachim Winckelmann he also wrote some theoretical works, of which the most important is the Gedanken über die Schönheit und über den Geschmack in der Malerey (1762). Although acclaimed during his lifetime, he was later regarded as an unimaginative eclectic, a view that continues to be widely held.

 

Self-Portrait


 

The Holy Family with the Infant St John the Baptist
1763
Oil on canvas, 200 x 136 cm
Private collection