School of Anton Raphael Mengs

School of ANTON RAPHAEL MENGS (Aussig, Bohemia, 1728-Rome, 1779).
"Portrait of the Marquise de Llano".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 66 x 42 cm; 87 x 73.5 cm (frame).
The work stands out for the naturalness with which the effigy of the protagonist is portrayed, with her face directed to the viewer, sketching a slight smile, which communicates to whoever observes the piece. In addition, the detail of the unbuttoned button of the dress in the neckline area brings naturalness to the scene. Thus showing a close and affable personality and defining at the same time the artist, the features of the psychological portrait. Stylistically the work is reminiscent of the portrait of the Marquise de Llano, Doña Isabel de Parreño y Arce painted by Mengs that currently belongs to the collection of the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. "The portrait was painted by Mengs in Parma in 1770, when the first husband of the Marquise, Don José Agustín de Llano was minister plenipotentiary of Charles III at the court.
Painter and theorist of neoclassicism, Anton Raphael Mengs was trained both in the practical aspect of painting and in the theory of art, under the influence of Winckelmann, of whom he was a friend and outstanding pupil. He trained in Dresden under the direction of his father, Ismael Mengs, a court painter. Later, between 7141 and 1744, he traveled to Rome to further his education with Marco Benefial, studying especially ancient sculpture and the painting of Raphael and the classicists of the seventeenth century. In 1744 he returned to Dresden and was appointed court painter, where he devoted himself mainly to portraits. In 1746 he was appointed painter to King Augustus III of Poland, and subsequently undertook a journey through Italy, ending in Rome, where he settled permanently. In the Italian capital he painted important religious and mythological works in fresco, showing a mature style of a clearly neoclassical character, influenced by the Renaissance and, more specifically, by the work of Raphael. In 1761 he was called to Spain, where he remained until 1769 as the first painter of King Carlos III. For him he painted works destined to decorate the Royal and Aranjuez palaces, and also painted important portraits. His presence in Madrid definitely pushed Tiepolo into a corner, since Mengs represented a new taste that was well accepted by the court. Although he would later return to Rome, he would visit the Spanish court again between 1774 and 1776, shortly before contracting the illness that would lead him to die in Italy in 1779. Works by Mengs are currently preserved in the Prado Museum, the Louvre in Paris, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Metropolitan in New York, the National Gallery and the Royal Collection in London, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Albertina in Vienna and other leading art galleries in Europe and the United States.