MADRID.- The exhibition “Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779)” is organised by the Museo Nacional del Prado with the exclusive sponsorship of Fundación BBVA. Curated by Andrés Úbeda de los Cobos, Head of the 18th-century Painting Collection and Goya at the Museo del Prado, and Javier Jordán de Urríes y de la Colina, Curator of 18th- century painting at Patrimonio Nacional, it offers a complete overview of the figure of Mengs, his work and artistic thought. Considered one of the great innovators of 18th-century European painting, Mengs was the driving force behind the movement that would later be known as Neoclassicism, understood at the time as a true “restoration of the arts.”

The exhibition is structured into ten thematic sections that combine a biographical survey of this cosmopolitan artist with areas devoted to specific aspects of his work and thought. Visitors will learn more about Mengs’s early training in Dresden and Rome under the strict discipline of his father, the court painter Ismail Mengs, and discover how the influence of Raphael and Correggio profoundly influenced his style and aspirations.

Among the sections is “The constant challenge to Raphael”, which analyses Mengs’s conscious emulation of that artist, evident in works such as The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, displayed in a dialogue with Raphael’s Lo Spasimo di Sicilia. The sections on Rome, entitled “Rome, caput mundi” and “Rome: fascination with the ancient world”, show the impact of the Eternal City on Mengs’s work, both as a spiritual capital and as a repository of classical civilisation, with portraits of sitters such as Pope Clement XIII and Cardinal Zelada, as well as copies of antique sculptures that inspired the artist’s ideal of beauty.

The exhibition also addresses Mengs’s complex relationship with the archaeologist Johann Joachim Winckelmann in the section “The end of Mengs’s relationship with Winckelmann”, which tells the story of a friendship betrayed by the falsification of the fresco Jupiter and Ganymede. The section “Mengs, painter-philosopher” explores the artist’s theoretical activities, which made him an intellectual reference for Enlightenment art, and analyses the critical reception of his work after his death.

The patronage of Charles III occupies a central place in the exhibition, with sections such as “Painter to His Catholic Majesty and the Madrid court”, which features portraits of the royal family and figures from Enlightenment Spain, and “Mengs, painter of frescoes”, which highlights the artist’s abilities at decorating large surfaces, such as the frescoes in the Royal Palace in Madrid. The section “Mengs as an exponent of the new Enlightenment devotion” focuses on his contribution to religious painting, influenced by Raphael, Correggio, Guido Reni and Velázquez.

Finally, the section “Mengs’s Legacy” looks at his influence on subsequent generations of artists, including Antonio Canova and Francisco de Goya.

The exhibition encourages a reflection on the role of Anton Raphael Mengs, one of the great artistic innovators of the Early Modern age.