Anton Raphael Mengs
1781. Wash, Brush, Bistre on laid paper.Not on display
This drawing, hitherto unpublished, is one of only four – all of them from his academic training period – known by the engraver José Joaquín Fabregat, one of the most important intaglio engravers from 1750–1800. Trained at the Academia de San Carlos in Valencia, his career flourished in Madrid at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and the main court printers. He later moved to Mexico to take the position of director of engraving at the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico.
Although unpublished, this drawing is perfectly documented since it was made in 1781 and submitted as a guarantee for the title of academician at San Carlos de Valencia. In his application signed in Madrid on 6 April 1781, he states that ‘wishing not to be deprived of the honour of being a member of the Real Academia de San Carlos, of which he has the honour of being its pupil, the applicant hereby presents to Your Majesty four different prints by his hand. He also presents a drawing made by the applicant of the self-portrait of Don Antonio Rafael Mengs, so that while the Royal Academy may judge the progress of his profession as an engraver, it may also judge the progress of his drawing’. On 16 September 1781 the academy agreed, on the basis of his application and the prints and drawings presented, to award him the title of Academician of Merit in the engraving class. (Carrete, J. and E. Villena in: El grabado en el siglo XVIII. Joaquín José Fabregat. Valencia, Madrid, Mexico. Valencia: Generalitat Valenciana, 1990, pp. 24-6.)
In addition to its intrinsic value resulting from its formal qualities, this drawing – which is signed – represents an invaluable document of the leading role played by the Bohemian painter Anton Raphael Mengs in artistic practice in Spain during the reign of Charles III. Mengs painted a self-portrait around 1774–76 (private collection) which he gifted in 1775 to Bernardo de Iriarte. At that time, Bernardo de Iriarte was in the Secretary of State and held important posts in the government of the monarchy and who, together with his two brothers Domingo and Tomás, amassed a significant art collection. The self-portrait was ‘the main ornament of my room’, as the poet Tomás said. Around it, paintings by Van Dyck, Murillo, Reni, Cerezo, Carreño and others then-attributed to great masters. Reports from travellers, critics and from Tomás Iriarte himself reveal that his house was easily accessible to foreign visitors, to those interested in and fond of painting and also to artists and students at the Academia de San Fernando. Bernardo certainly benefits from the important role he played in the corporation and his paintings sometimes served as models for several award competitions. (Jordán de Urríes y de la Colina, J. in: ‘El coleccionismo ilustrado de Bernardo de Iriarte’, Goya, 319/320, 2007, pp. 259-80.)
The painting with the self-portrait was used by Manuel Salvador Carmona – his son-in-law – to make an engraving. It was firstly made on his own account, and once the decorative border was removed, it was subsequently reused for the Spanish edition of Mengs’s Works published by Azara in 1781. In addition, it became the painter’s official image, despite some criticism of its quality, which Iriarte reported in a letter to Azara on 15 January 1781. It is precisely as an immediate response to this critical context, and as evidence of the competition between engravers – between the old professor Carmona and the aspirant to succeed him, Fabregat – where we can find the reason for the choice of Mengs’s self-portrait as a presentation drawing for the Academy. The large format of the drawing, larger than the print, and the excellent technical quality of the pencil allowed Fabregat to reproduce the original painting with extraordinary truthfulness and to solve the problems that the academicians had pointed out about the print.
Matilla, José Manuel, 'José Joaquín Fabregat. Retrato de Anton Rafael Mengs'. en: Memoria de actividades 2021 Museo Nacional del Prado, Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte, 2022, p.43-45
