Anton Raphael Mengs (aussig, 1728 - Rome, 1779), Portrait Of A Young Girl With A Book

Anton Raphael Mengs
(Aussig, 1728 - Rome, 1779) Workshop
Portrait of a young girl with a book

Oil on canvas
64 x 49 cm - Framed 77 x 63 cm

Full details of the work  (click HERE)

The work, depicting a charming portrait of a young girl, can be attributed to a neoclassical painter of the Roman school active in the 18th century in the entourage of Anton Raphael Mengs (Aussig, 1728 - Rome, 1779).

The subject is a young woman immortalised in a half-length portrait, dressed fashionably in a boat-neck dress with puff sleeves, adorned with a blue bow on the left sleeve and gold embroidery. She wears precious earrings composed of a large pearl from which three other teardrop pearls fall, while her hair is gathered in a hairstyle embellished with other simple but precious jewels.

She is holding a quill and a notebook, suggesting an artistic or intellectual activity, reinforced by a composed expression and a direct, penetrating and introspective gaze towards the observer.

The work reflects the 18th-century taste for the new vision of neoclassical art, which also embraced portraiture, abandoning the excessive and redundant aesthetics of the Baroque in favour of a return to the principles of balance, composure and serenity. with these principles, Mengs soon became famous and sought after, rivalling the older Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787) for the role of first painter of the capital.

He moved to Rome in 1741 and quickly became an extraordinary portrait painter, the most highly paid and sought-after in Italy and in the European courts of the late 18th century, a point of reference for wealthy travellers on the Grand Tour who wanted to visit his studio in Via Sistina to commission their portraits.

The pose and details of the dress and the lightened background, like a kind of aura around the figure, are all references to Mengs' style, rendered here with such lightness and confidence that we can attribute the work to an artist from his close circle or a pupil.

The details and masterful execution are very similar to the master's works, including, by way of comparison, his self-portrait (fig. 1 - https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/0900099752 ), the Portrait of Johann Joachim Winckelmann (fig. 2 - Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437067), or the Portrait of the Engraver Francesco Bartolozzi (fig. 3 - Lviv National Art Gallery, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mengs_Portrait_Kupferstecher_Francesco_Bartolozzi.jpg), in which we can find the same technical skill as well as the same stylistic peculiarities and the same cut, which gives the subject an incredible immediacy of expression. In all these works, the subjects are holding books and objects alluding to their culture.

The same shape and structure of earrings, extremely precious given the size of the pearls that compose them, can be seen in his portrait of Maria Luisa of Bourbon (https://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/opera/64308/).

In good condition with some restoration on the surface, complete with gilded frame (small losses).


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The work is sold complete with certificate of authenticity and descriptive iconographic card.

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