Anton Raphael Mengs. Anton Raphael Mengs was a German painter, active in Dresden, Rome and Madrid, who while painting in the Rococo period of the mid-18th century became one of the precursors to Neoclassical painting, which replaced Rococo as the dominant painting style.
Mengs was born in 1728 at Ústí nad Labem in the Kingdom of Bohemia, the son of Ismael Mengs, a Danish painter who eventually established himself at Dresden, where the court of Saxonian-Polish electors and kings was. His older sister, Therese Maron, was also a painter, as was his younger sister, Julia.
His and Therese's births in Bohemia were mere coincidence. Their mother was not their father's wife; Ismael carried on a years-long affair with the family's housekeeper, Charlotte Bormann.
In an effort to conceal the births of two illegitimate children, Ismael took Charlotte, under the pretext of vacations, to the nearest bigger town abroad, Ústí nad Labem. At least in Anton's case, Ismael Mengs took his baby and Charlotte back to Dresden a few weeks after the birth.
There they lived for the next 13 years. In 1741 Ismael moved his family from Dresden to Rome. In 1749 Anton Raphael Mengs was appointed first painter to Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony, but this did not prevent him from continuing to spend much of his time in Rome. There he married Margarita Guazzi, who had sat for him as a model in 1748. He converted to Catholicism
Mengs was born in 1728 at Ústí nad Labem in the Kingdom of Bohemia, the son of Ismael Mengs, a Danish painter who eventually established himself at Dresden, where the court of Saxonian-Polish electors and kings was. His older sister, Therese Maron, was also a painter, as was his younger sister, Julia.
His and Therese's births in Bohemia were mere coincidence. Their mother was not their father's wife; Ismael carried on a years-long affair with the family's housekeeper, Charlotte Bormann.
In an effort to conceal the births of two illegitimate children, Ismael took Charlotte, under the pretext of vacations, to the nearest bigger town abroad, Ústí nad Labem. At least in Anton's case, Ismael Mengs took his baby and Charlotte back to Dresden a few weeks after the birth.
There they lived for the next 13 years. In 1741 Ismael moved his family from Dresden to Rome. In 1749 Anton Raphael Mengs was appointed first painter to Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony, but this did not prevent him from continuing to spend much of his time in Rome. There he married Margarita Guazzi, who had sat for him as a model in 1748. He converted to Catholicism
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