1728-1779 Dutch Anton Raphael Mengs Gallery Mengs was born in 1728 at Usti nad Labem (German: Aussig) in Bohemia on 12 March 1728; he died in Rome 29 June 1779. His father, Ismael Mengs, a Danish painter, established himself finally at Dresden, whence in 1741 he took his son to Rome. In Rome, his fresco painting of Parnassus at Villa Albani gained him a reputation as a master painter. The appointment of Mengs in 1749 as first painter to Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony did not prevent his spending much time in Rome, where he had married Margarita Quazzi who had sat for him as a model in 1748, and abjured the Protestant faith, and where he became in 1754 director of the Vatican school of painting, nor did this hinder him on two occasions from obeying the call of Charles III of Spain to Madrid. There Mengs produced some of his best work, and specially the ceiling of the banqueting-hall of the Royal Palace of Madrid, the subject of which was the Triumph of Trajan and the Temple of Glory. Among his pupils there was Agust??n Esteve. After the completion of this work in 1777, Mengs returned to Rome, and there he died, two years later, in poor circumstances, leaving twenty children, seven of whom were pensioned by the king of Spain. His portraits and autoportraits recall an attention to detail and insight, often lost from the grand manner paintings. Besides numerous paintings in the Madrid gallery, the Ascension and St Joseph at Dresden, Perseus and Andromeda at Saint Petersburg, and the ceiling of the Villa Albani must be mentioned among his chief works. In 1911, Henry George Percy, 7th Duke of Northumberland, possessed a Holy Family, and the colleges of All Souls and Magdalen, at Oxford, possessed altar-pieces by Mengs's hand. In his writings, in Spanish, Italian and German, Mengs has put forth his eclectic theory of art, which treats of perfection as attainable by a well-schemed combination of diverse excellences Greek design, with the expression of Raphael, the chiaroscuro of Correggio, and the colour of Titian. He would have fancied himself the first neoclassicist, while in fact he may be the last flicker of Baroque art. Or in the words of Wittkower, In the last analysis, he is as much an end as a beginning. His intimacy with Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who constantly wrote at his dictation, has enhanced his historical importance, for he formed no scholars, and the critic must now concur in Goethe's judgment of Mengs in Winckelmann und sein Jahrhundert; he must deplore that so much learning should have been allied to a total want of initiative and poverty of invention, and embodied with a strained and artificial mannerism. Mengs was famous for his rivalry with the contemporary Italian painter Pompeo Batoni.  Related Paintings of Anton Raphael Mengs :. | Perseus Frees Andromeda | Self-portrait | The Judgment of Paris, painting by Anton Raphael Mengs, now in the Eremitage, St. Petersburg | Portrait of Charles III of Spain | Das Urteil des Paris |
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William Holmes Sullivan
painted Lady Godiva in 1877
Samuel Howitt
English, 1756-1822,was an artist from England. Samuel Howitt was born into a wealthy Quaker family in Nottinghamshire, England. He began painting as a hobby and to amuse his friends. Hunting and racing were his hobbies and he mimicked this interest in his work. Howitt's family experienced financial difficulties, so Howitt decided to move to London. In London, Howitt made a career out of his talent, flourishing as a professional artist. He was published often in The Sporting Magazine and went on to illustrate various books. Howitt is best known for his lively and exotic sporting scenes. His superior watercolors and aquatints depict dramatic racing and hunting scenes as well as an array of conventional and exotic animals. Howitt's work is included in the Mellon Collection, which possesses no fewer than 160 of his watercolors, and many of his aquatints. Howitt exhibited at the Royal Academy and illustrated several books, including his own entitled The British Sportsman c.1812 and British Preserve c.1824. Samuel Howitt, "genius, artist, sportsman", concentrated his considerable artistic talents on picturing scenes of horse-racing and hunting in all its aspects. Born in Nottinghamshire, England, Howitt was largely self-taught ,"although he must have been helped by his companions George Morland, Rowlandson and John Raphael Smith. Howitt's watercolours of hunting, shooting and racing have delightful spontaneity.
Gustavo Simoni
Italian, 1846-1926