Anton Raphael Mengs (Aussig, 1728 - Rome, 1779) Workshop
Portrait of a Gentleman
Oil on canvas (135 x 99 cm. - Framed 148 x 113 m.)
Provenance: Arcadia Auction Rome, Palazzo Celsi, March 29, 2023 (as a French painter active in Rome in the 18th century) - link
The portrait of a gentleman presented here can be attributed to a painter of the Roman school active in the 18th century, specifically from the entourage of Anton Raphael Mengs (Aussig, 1728 - Rome, 1779).
Portraiture in the 18th century experienced a golden age, transforming from a celebratory genre for the elite to a tool for social affirmation for the burgeoning bourgeoisie. Rome, an obligatory stop on the Grand Tour, became the cosmopolitan center where international artists immortalized nobles, intellectuals, and travelers.
In this context, Mengs was a protagonist of the neoclassical turn, bringing a new search for truth and formal rigor to portraiture.
The sitter is a young nobleman portrayed seated on a red cushion. He wears a voluminous, curly gray wig, a distinctive sign of social status at the time, and a dressing gown (often identified as a 'banyan') in damask brown velvet with blue lapels, over a wide white shirt, which gives the work a more intimate and less solemn character.
He turns towards the viewer with a composed expression and a penetrating, introspective gaze.
The pose of the male portrait with one hand inside the garment, a pictorial convention of the 18th and 19th centuries, was a sign of composed posture but, above all, indicated authority, control, and calmness, inspired by the etiquette manuals of the time such as "manly boldness tempered by modesty."
It was, in fact, a way to express self-domination and, consequently, domination over others, typical of the oratory of that era. Although it is thought that this pose was invented by Napoleon (the military leader was often depicted with his hand hidden in his waistcoat), it was actually a common convention used in many portraits of well-to-do men even before him.
Continuing the analysis of our canvas, the vase of flowers (peonies and other wildflowers) on the table covered by a red tablecloth, with a view of a Mediterranean garden from which architectural elements can be glimpsed, are also common decorative elements to emphasize the elegance of the setting and status.
The work fully reflects the 18th-century taste of the new neoclassical vision of art, which also embraced portraiture, abandoning the excessive and redundant Baroque aesthetic for a return to the principles of balance and composure. With these principles, Mengs soon became famous and sought after, rivaling the older Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787) for the role of the foremost painter in the capital.
He moved to Rome in 1741 and quickly became an extraordinary portraitist, the most highly paid and sought-after in Italy and in the European courts of the late 18th century, and a point of reference for wealthy Grand Tour travelers who wished to visit his studio in Via Sistina to commission their own portraits.
The characteristics just listed would confirm the reference to Mengs' style, allowing us to propose its attribution to an artist from his close circle or one of his numerous notable students, whom he had in both Italy and Spain, where he worked for the respective courts.
It is difficult to identify a name with certainty, although in Rome Anton von Maron (Vienna, 1733 – Rome, 1808) was one of his most promising pupils, maintaining a style close to that of the master.
Good condition, complete with antique frame.
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