Ismael Mengs
Portrait by his son Anton Raphael Mengs (c. 1744–1745)
Born1688 (1688)
Copenhagen
Died26 December 1764(1764-12-26) (aged 75–76)
Dresden
Spouse
Charlotte Burmann
​
(m. 1720)​
ChildrenAnton Raphael Mengs
Therese Concordia Maron
Julia Charlotte Mengs

Ismael Israel Mengs (1688–1764) was a Danish-born portrait and enamel painter of Jewish ancestry; active mainly at the court of Dresden.

Biography

His family was originally from Lusatia. He began by studying enamel painting with Benoît Le Coffre, a French artist who worked for the Danish court. In 1709, after further training in Hamburg and Schwerin, he studied oil painting with Paul Heinecken in Lübeck. Following travels in Germany, Austria and Italy, he settled in Dresden and worked as a miniaturist.[1]

Shortly after, he was baptized as a Lutheran. In 1714, he became a Court Painter to Augustus II, the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony.[2]

He made a study trip to Italy in 1718. There, he was impressed by the works of Raphael and Correggio. Later, when teaching his children, he employed the lessons he had learned from examining their works. His best-known offspring, Anton Rafael, was said to consider him a strict and often tyrannical teacher. He also had two daughters who became miniaturists. On several occasions, their training included study trips to Italy.

In addition to painting, he used his knowledge of chemistry to develop colors for the Meissen Porcelain manufactory. For several years, he taught at the drawing school there. In 1764, not long before his death, he was named an honorary professor at the newly established Academy of Fine Arts.

Selected works

References

  1. ↑ Georg Beutel: Bildnisse hervorragender Dresdner aus fünf Jahrhunderten. Verlag Rommler & Jonas, Dresden 1908.
  2. ↑ Rudolf Grulich: "Ein getaufter Jude aus Dänemark und die Aussiger Madonna". In: Mitteilungen Haus Königstein, # 5 (2011), Vol.4, p. 17

Further reading

  • Karl Heinrich von Heinecken: Nachrichten von Künstlern und Kunst-Sachen, Vol. 1. Krauß Verlag, Leipzig 1768
  • Georg Kaspar Nagler: Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon, Vol.9. Verlag Fleischmann, Munich 1836
  • Philo-Lexikon. Handbuch des jüdischen Wissens. 3rd ed., Berlin 1936, pp.469–470
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