By Himself.
BORN at Aussig, in Bohemia, the second son of Ismael Mengs, a native of Copenhagen, miniature painter to Augustus the Strong, King of Poland. Ismael brought up his boys as painters; he gave them, when quite children, nothing but pencils for playthings, keeping them at work sometimes for sixteen hours a day. After a while the eldest son rebelled against this close application, and made his escape from home, taking refuge with the Jesuits at Prague; but Raphael inherited his father’s love of art, and laboured diligently.
In 1740 Ismael took him to Rome, where the same rigid course of study was enforced; the youth was constantly locked up in the Vatican with his work cut out for him,—to copy Raphael, Michael Angelo, or the antique the whole day long, with a loaf of bread and a pitcher of water. On the days passed at home, the father kept his son a prisoner in the same manner, and would go out for hours on his own concerns, with the key of the room in his pocket. These early lessons of industry and application bore ample fruit in the future life of this indefatigable painter. Returning to Dresden, the young man’s miniature copies of Raphael, and some excellent portraits in pastel, pleased King Augustus so much that he appointed Raphael Mengs his Painter-in-Ordinary, with a considerable salary. To his Majesty’s surprise, and the great displeasure of Count Brühl, Raphael declined, on the plea that he was too young for such a post. Rome had great attractions for him, and thither he returned. He painted a ‘Holy Family,’ which gained him much credit, the original of Our Lady being a beautiful girl, Margaret Guazzi by name, the child of poor parents, and as good as she was beautiful. The young painter became a proselyte to the Roman Catholic faith, and married his lovely model, nor had ever cause to repent his choice. He remained at Rome several years, painting assiduously, and studying in the Hospital of San Spirito; it was in obedience to his father’s wishes that he returned to Dresden, with much regret, and was obliged by so doing to forfeit many advantageous commissions. Old Ismael, whose nature was violent and cruel, repaid his son’s devotion by turning him, his wife, and infant child into the streets on some trifling disagreement. The story came to the King’s ears, and he once more offered the rejected post to young Mengs, with an increased salary, a house, and carriage. This time the Royal bounty was accepted with gratitude, for Raphael was now a husband and a father. The King was at that time employed in building the Catholic church at Dresden, where the Royal Family still carry on their separate worship,—it being one of the few (is it not the only?) capitals where the Court and the subjects profess a different creed. Raphael Mengs painted the lateral altars, and had a commission for the high altar-piece; but the longing was upon him, in no way singular, to return to Rome, and he pleaded that he would execute the order far better in Italy. He repaired thither, and, after making a copy of the school of Athens for the Earl of Northumberland, he began his altar-piece for Dresden. ‘The Seven Years’ War now broke out, and Augustus was deprived of his electorate, and found himself unable to continue Mengs’s salary. The failure of this income, added to his own improvidence, plunged our artist into poverty; he was obliged to take any orders that offered, and accept any terms proposed, in order to keep the wolf from the door. The fresco which he executed for the monks in the Church of Sant’ Eusebio brought him little pay indeed, but great increase of popularity. He did not carry out a commission he had received from King Augustus to go to Naples and paint the Royal Family, supposing the order to be cancelled; but the Duke of Censano, Neapolitan Minister to the Papacy, urged him to fulfil it, and wrote to Naples, specifying the prices which the now popular painter had received in Saxony. Just as he was starting for Naples, rumours were set afloat which troubled Mengs exceedingly; he was assured that a picture which had been ordered for the Chapel-Royal at Caserta was not required, and that the King and Queen declined to sit to him on account of his prices being reckoned exorbitant. He was perplexed how to act, when the arrival of the Polish Minister from Naples set his mind at rest. Count Lagnasco assured him that the altar-piece for Caserta was daily expected, and that the King and Queen had never demurred at the prices, but were only displeased at the delay. He therefore hastened to Naples, but, on his arrival, found the King and Queen on the eve of embarkation for their new kingdom of Spain, and too much engrossed by their preparations to give him sittings. They, however, commanded a portrait of their son Ferdinand, about to ascend the vacant throne of Naples. The jealousy of his brother artists made the fair city insupportable to Mengs, and he again took his way to Rome, where he was very popular, and had plenty of work. He adorned the beautiful Villa Albani with classical frescoes, and painted numerous pictures, chiefly for English and Neapolitan patrons. Charles III., King of Spain, hearing him highly spoken of, now proposed to Raphael Mengs to enter his service, with a large salary, a house, and carriage, and all materials for painting provided; also a free passage for himself and family on a Spanish vessel sailing from Naples.
Mengs accepted, and was kindly received by the King, but soon found he had to encounter the bitter hatred of all the artists in the Spanish capital. Giaquinto, an Italian, who had hitherto enjoyed the Royal favour, was so disgusted at the success of Mengs, that he abandoned the field, and, leaving Spain in dudgeon, returned to his own country. Mengs was now employed in the decoration of the new palace, and painted the Gods of Olympus in the bedchamber of the King, Aurora in that of the Queen, and Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night in the apartments of the Infanta, besides numerous easel pictures.
He was also appointed honorary member of the Academy of St. Ferdinand, where, being desirous of instituting new regulations and bringing about reforms, he provoked much ill-will, and being himself of a hot and hasty temper, bickerings and disagreements ensued without number. Altogether, Raphael Mengs was far from happy during his sojourn at Madrid; the climate was most injurious to his health, which declined daily, yet he never slackened in his toil, but worked unremittingly from dawn till dusk, and often far into the night. He had already despatched his wife and family to Rome, and now asked permission to join them. Suffering and melancholy, he proceeded on his solitary way, and was delayed some time at Monaco by increased illness; at length he arrived in his beloved Rome, where the affection of his dear ones and the warmth of the climate partially revived him. He now turned his attention chiefly to sacred subjects, and in loving memory of his favourite Notte di Coreggio in the Dresden Gallery, executed a Nativity on the same plan, where all the light emanated from the Holy Child; introducing his own portrait as one of the adoring shepherds. Pope Clement XIV. gave Mengs a labour of love to perform, and in that light he considered it, for he stipulated that he should receive no payment: this was to decorate the walls of the hall destined for the reception of the papyrus rolls in the Vatican. To work beneath the same roof which his illustrious namesake had sanctified, was indeed a glory!
Although enfeebled in health, Mengs was comparatively content, both in the matter of his residence and his work; but he received a warning from Madrid that his leave of absence had been too long exceeded, and it required all the kind intercession of Don Joseph de Azara, Spanish Envoy at Rome, and Mengs’s great friend, to intercede with the King on this score. At last there was a compromise, Mengs agreeing to go to Naples to paint the portraits of the reigning King and Queen for the gallery at Madrid. But his industry seemed on this occasion to forsake him; when in Naples he was very dilatory over his commission, and spent his time in buying coins and vases to add to his collection; and on his return to Rome he had only finished the heads. Then he had to conclude his work in the Vatican, and take leave of the Pope, who gave him a rosary of lapis-lazuli and a set of medals struck during his Pontificate. So little was Mengs in haste to reach Spain that he stopped by the way at Florence to paint the Grand Duke and Duchess, with many other portraits.
He arrived at Madrid, and recommenced his labours in the palace, to the great satisfaction of King Charles; went to Aranjuez, where he worked both in the palaces and the churches; but relapsed into bad health, and became so ill that the kind-hearted monarch would no longer detain him, and sent him back to Rome,—‘with,’ says Sir William Stirling, ‘a stipend far beyond his requirements, and a fame far beyond his merits.’ Charles also settled dowries on the daughters of Raphael Mengs; but alas! he had not been long at home before his good and beautiful wife died; and he strove to console himself by working harder than ever.
The winter was unusually severe, his studio was overheated, and the bad air increased his malady. His frame became emaciated, and his features so ghastly as to attract the notice of every one. One of his pictures, purchased by an Englishman, met with a strange fate: despatched to England by sea, the vessel was taken by a French cruiser, and the picture sent to Paris. Eventually Louis XVI. sent it as a present to the Empress Catherine of Russia.
In spite of the expostulations of his children, Mengs now put himself into the hands of a German quack, and, to follow his directions without opposition, took a lodging by himself, first in Via Condotti, and then in the Gregoriana.