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Self-Portrait

1776
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 627
Born in Bohemia, today the Czech Republic, Mengs became an international celebrity, painting in Dresden, Rome, and Madrid in the third quarter of the eighteenth century. He was a rival to Pompeo Batoni, whose work hangs nearby, and a close friend of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, whom he painted in the portrait also at The Met. Mengs’s depictions of prominent sitters are notable for their delicacy, but his images of himself are uncompromising and direct. He painted this self‑portrait, one of three known versions, in Madrid in 1776, by which time his health had begun to fail. A symptom of his illness is seen in the discolored swelling on his forehead.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Self-Portrait
  • Artist: Anton Raphael Mengs (German, Ústi nad Labem (Aussig) 1728–1779 Rome)
  • Date: 1776
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 35 1/2 x 25 7/8 in. (90 x 65.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 2010
  • Object Number: 2010.445
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Anton Raphael Mengs German, Red chalk, graphite; squared in graphite
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
Anton Raphael Mengs
mid-18th–late 18th century
The Triumph of History over Time, Anton Raphael Mengs German, Black and white chalk, on blue paper
The Triumph of History over Time
Anton Raphael Mengs
1771–75 (?)
Holy Family with St. John the Baptist, Anton Raphael Mengs German, Pen and brown ink, squared for transfer in black chalk
Holy Family with St. John the Baptist
Anton Raphael Mengs
mid-18th century
Seated Nude Male, Anton Raphael Mengs German, Black chalk, heightening with white, brown wash (?), on gray-brown paper
Seated Nude Male
Anton Raphael Mengs
n.d.
Oedipus before the Temple of the Furies between his Daughters Antigone and Ismene, Anton Raphael Mengs German, Pen and brown ink, bown wash, heightened with white gouache, over graphite
Oedipus before the Temple of the Furies between his Daughters Antigone and Ismene
Anton Raphael Mengs
ca. 1760–61

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