The Prado Museum “rediscovers” Anton Raphael Mengs – World – Arte.it

World – Key figure of neoclassicism and one of the most influential names of the 18th century, Anton Raphael Mengs owes his name to a great paternal passion, that of his father, Ismael Mengs, for Antonio Allegri da Correggio and for Raffaello Sanzio.
This anecdote, which says a lot about the Mengs family’s passion for art, explains the German art historian’s admiration for Greco-Roman antiquity and for the works of Urbino and Titian. The Prado Museum and the Fundación BBVA are dedicating an ambitious exhibition to the thought, but also to the legacy, of the painter, in dialogue with the great masters of the past.
Simply titled Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779) the exhibition brings together, from November 25 to March 1159 works, including 64 paintings, 14 examples of decorative arts and 81 drawings, prints and studies on paper, offer guests to the Madrid Museum an overview of the role of the artist, court painter and muralist, but also of his intellectual and theoretical dimension. The works come to the Prado from 25 international institutions, nine Spanish institutions and ten private collections, testifying to the European reach of Mengs’ influence and the richness of his legacy. Divided into ten thematic sections, the exhibition highlights the artist’s career from his training in Dresden and Rome to his rise as court painter to Charles III, focusing on the painter’s connection of light, brilliantly colored compositions with figures such as Raphael, Correggio and Winckelmann, as well as his role in redefining artistic taste in Europe. Important loans such as the Lamentation over the dead Christ dalla Gallery of the Royal Collections of Madrid; Jupiter and Ganymede from Palazzo Barberini in Rome; And Octavian and Cleopatra From the collections of the National Trust, United Kingdom.

Installation of the exhibition “Anton Raphael Mengs” | Photo © Museo Nazionale del Prado

The exhibition, curated by Andrés Úbeda de los Cobos and Javier Jordán de Urríes y de la Colina, aims to discover the artist considered the driving force behind the movement that would later become known as Neoclassicism, conceived at the time as a true ‘restoration of art’. Among the sections it promises to be particularly interesting “The constant challenge for Raphael”which will shift the focus to Mengs’ conscious emulation of that Urbino, as evidenced in works such as the Lamentation over the dead Christenter into dialogue with The Spasimo of Sicily.

The sections dedicated to Rome show the impact the eternal city had on Mengs’ work, with portraits of figures such as Pope Clement XIII and Cardinal Zelada, as well as copies of ancient sculptures that inspired the artist’s ideal of beauty. The exhibition does not neglect Mengs’ complex relationship with the archaeologist Johann Joachim Winckelmann, and tells the story of a friendship betrayed by the forgery of the fresco Jupiter and Ganymede.
The final phase of the exhibition will be dedicated to the artist’s legacy and influence on subsequent generations of colleagues, including Antonio Canova and Francisco de Goya.