The son of a shoemaker, and self-educated. At thirty became a Roman
Catholic, and journeyed to Rome, where he studied the antique, and
published his celebrated. “History of Art.” At Trieste he was murdered
by a felon, for the sake of the medals conferred upon him by the Courts
of Austria and Bavaria. His investigations into the true principles and
significance of high art, more especially of antique sculpture, led the
way to the enlightened criticism of Lessing and Goethe.
[By Doel. It was placed in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, by Geo. F.
Reiffenstein.]
315*. ANTHONY RAPHAEL MENGS. _Painter._
[Born at Aussig, in Bohemia, 1728. Died at Rome, 1771. Aged 43.]
Surnamed, but without much reason, the Rafaelle of Germany. He studied
assiduously at the Vatican. Upon his return to Germany he was appointed
at Dresden painter to the King. Revisiting Rome he fell in love with a
beautiful peasant girl, and became a Roman Catholic in order to marry
her. In 1757, he commenced painting in fresco, and his works of this
kind will bear comparison with some of the best of the Italian masters.
In 1761, he was invited by Charles III. to Spain, where he painted for
the palace at Madrid, the “Apotheosis of Trajan.” This is his _chef
d’œuvre_. He died leaving scarcely sufficient to pay his funeral
expenses, and the King of Spain provided for his seven children. The
works of Mengs display correctness of drawing, vigour of colouring,
finished execution, and studied grace: but the loftier qualities of
mind, demanded by historical painting, are wanting. He was a writer on
art as well as an artist: and a generous, warm-hearted man.
[Bust to come.]