Offered by Antichità Castelbarco
Anton Raphael Mengs (Aussig, 1728 – Rome, 1779) Workshop
Portrait of a Gentleman
Oil on canvas 135 x 99 cm. – Framed 148 x 113 cm.
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 circle of Anton Raphael Mengs (Aussig, 1728 – Rome, 1779).
Portrait painting in the 18th century experienced a golden age, transforming from a celebratory genre for the elite into a tool for social affirmation for the emerging bourgeoisie, and Rome—a mandatory stop on the Grand Tour—became the cosmopolitan center where international artists immortalized nobles, intellectuals, and travelers.
In this context, Mengs was a leading figure in the Neoclassical movement, bringing a new quest for truth and formal rigor to portraiture.
The subject is a young nobleman portrayed seated on a red cushion; he wears a voluminous gray curly wig, a hallmark of social status at the time, and wears a brown damask velvet dressing gown (often identified as a ‘banyan’) with blue lapels over a loose white shirt, which lends the work a more intimate and less solemn character.
He faces the viewer with a composed expression and a penetrating, introspective gaze.
The pose of the male portrait with one hand inside the coat, a pictorial convention of the 18th and 19th centuries, was a sign of a composed posture but above all indicated authority, control, and calm, inspired by the etiquette manuals of the time as “masculine boldness tempered by modesty.”
It was, in fact, a way to express self-control and, consequently, control over others—a trait typical of the oratory of that era.
Although it is commonly believed that this pose was invented by Napoleon (the leader was often depicted with his hand hidden in his waistcoat), it was actually a common convention used in many portraits of men from good families even earlier.
Continuing our analysis of the painting, the vase of flowers (peonies and other wildflowers) on the table covered with a red tablecloth, overlooking a Mediterranean garden where architectural features are glimpsed, are common decorative elements used to emphasize the elegance of the setting and the subject’s status.
The work fully reflects the 18th-century taste for the new vision of Neoclassical art, which also embraced portraiture, with the abandonment of the excessive and redundant Baroque aesthetic in favor of 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 capital’s leading painter.
He moved to Rome in 1741 and quickly became an extraordinary portraitist, the highest-paid and most sought-after in Italy and at the European courts of the late 18th century, a point of reference for wealthy Grand Tour travelers who wished to visit his studio on Via Sistina to commission their portraits.
The characteristics listed above would confirm the connection to Mengs’s style, allowing us to attribute the work to an artist from his inner circle or to one of his many prominent pupils, whom he had both in Italy and in 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 his master. In good condition, complete with an antique frame.
Delevery information :
We take care of and organise the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers.
We take great care We personally take care of the packaging, to which we devote a great deal of care: each work is carefully packed, first with arti- cle material, then with a custom-made wooden box.
Should you have the desire to see this or other works in person, we would be happy to welcome you to our gallery in Riva del Garda, Viale Giuseppe Canella 18, we are always open by appointment only.
