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and to confine him to the most perfect, such was combined with a total disregard of his own as the Laocoon, the Torso, and the best pro-interest, that rendered himself and his family ductions of Raphael. miserable.

After passing three years at Rome, Mengs returned with his father to Dresden. Here he

Augustus III. King of Poland, to whom the father of Mengs was at that time painter, was desirous of seeing a proof of the youth's pro-applied himself to painting in crayons, and ficiency, and ordered him to copy in miniature two pictures of Raphael which belonged to the Jesuits' college. As the elder Mengs wished at the same time to send to his majesty a painting in enamel, he made his son produce a drawing of his own invention, which the father executed to a certain point, and then left it to his son to finish. The work, when complete, was one of the finest pieces of the kind that was ever produced.

It cannot he denied that young Mengs received an education admirably adapted to the profession for which he was destined, but he had to endure no small degree of rigour and mortification on the part of his instructor. His father, a man excessively severe, kept his children incessantly confined to their studies, allowing them no opportunities for recreation, or intercourse with the world, so that many people with whom he was in habits of inti macy, were totally ignorant that he had a family. When he went from home he locked his children up, and on his return strictly examined whether they had performed their allotted tasks. His chastisements were more like those of a severe master than of a father, and in his house he was a perfect tyrant.

painted his own portrait and that of a Signor Annibale, the only person with whom his father would suffer him to associate at Rome, out of respect for his musical abilities. Aunibale shewed these portraits to the King, who could scarcely believe that a boy of his age could have arrived at such perfection in the art. He therefore ordered that young Mengs should, in the presence of a female Italian artist, a pupil of the celebrated Rosalba, paint the portrait of her husband. He complied; and the King was so highly pleased with the performance that he sat to him for his own portrait. This happened in 1741.

In 1745 the King was obliged to retire to Poland, on account of the war; and upon his return to Dresden he was desirous of possessing the portraits of the whole family of Mengs. Anthony painted that of his father, and his own was taken by his eldest sister. Soon afterwards young Mengs was appointed cabinet-painter, with a salary of six hundred dollars, and no other restriction than to give the King the preference of those works which he night choose to execute, and the price of which was to be fixed by himself. He then requested permission to return to Rome, which was granted.

He repaired again to Rome with his father and his two sisters, and took a house near the Vatican, that he might the more conveniently prosecute his studies of the originals preserved there. He made drawings of paintings and statues, frequented the academies and the lectures on anatomy in the Hospital of the Holy Ghost. At the request of his

In the same manner as this rigid parent conducted himself at Dresden towards all his children, he behaved at Rome to the young Anthony Raphael. In the morning he took him to the Vatican, assigned him his task for the whole day, and left him some bread and a flask of water for his subsistence til night, when he would return to fetch him home, aud demand a strict account of his diurnal studies. This severity was favourable to the profession-father he also painted some miniatures. At al improvement of the youth; it awakened in him a spirit of observation, which he carried so far, that from the pictures of Raphael he was enabled to form a history of the ideas of that great artist, to distinguish the original plan from the changes afterwards made in a performance, and to point out the motives which must have induced him to make those alterations.

But in the same proportion as this rigid education favoured the developement of the talents of the youthful artist, it proved disadvantageous to his person. It produced a shyness that bordered on clownishness, and an awkward timidity which arose from his igaviance of the manners of the world, and

length, after four years of indefatigable study, he ventured upon his first composition, which represented the Holy Family. This piece obtained the highest applause; all the connoisseurs flocked to see it, and such was the opinion which it produced of his talents, that several persons of the highest distinction endeavoured to persuade him to settle at Rome, promising to procure the King's permission, and to find him abundant employment.This offe" was the more acceptable to Mengs, as it coincided with his wish to remain at Rome to pursue his studies. His father, however, insisted on his returning to Saxony. Before the young artist quitted Rome he married a virtuous and beautiful young lady, with whom

he accidentally became acquainted, when seeking a model for the head of the Virgin in his Holy Family.

Towards the end of the year 1749, he arrived at Dresden. The intense cold of that climate in winter, and various domestic troubles, produced an attack of hypochondria. His father, in pursuance of his despotic system, seized, on his arrival, all the effects of his son, and even his ready money, and left him totally destitute. But the generosity of his friends came at this critical moment to his aid, and the liberality of his royal patron consoled him for this loss. The King assigned him a house and equipage, conferred on him the title of first painter, and a salary of one thousand dollars. The bounty of the monarch excited in his heart the warmest gratitude towards his royal benefactor, to whom, throughout his whole life, he loudly acknowledged his manifold obligations. King Augustus, having built a church in the palace, wished Mengs to execute the paintings for the high altar and for the two others at the sides. The pictures for the latter he executed at Dresden; but the piece for the high altar he requested permission to paint at Rome, to which city his health rendered it adviseable for him to return. Accordingly, in the spring of 1752, he proceeded to Rome with his wife and daughter, who was born at Dresden, and was in the sequel married to Emanuel Carmona, a celebrated engraver of Madrid. The genial climate of Rome soon restored his health be enjoyed the satisfaction of finding himself again in the focus of the arts, and this redoubled his assiduity. The Earl of Northumberland gave him a commission for a copy of Raphael's School of Athens. When he had finished this piece, he began the painting for the high altar at Dresden; but about this, time, the Prussians invaded Saxony; the King fled from his electoral dominions; Mengs ceased to receive his stipend; and to maintain his family, which increased fast, he was obliged to accept commissions from different individuals. He now thought of making himse'f better known by means of some work which should be open to the inspection of the public. For this reason he undertook, at a small price, to paint a piece in fresco for the ceiling of the Celestine church of St. Eusebius; and he had the satisfaction to find that his performance was commended more than he had himself expected.

We shall pass over in silence the vexations to which envy subjected him at the court of Naples, for which he received various commissions and where he was abundantly compensated by the favour of the King, who, on

his departure to take possession of the Spanish throne, charged him to paint the portrait of his son Ferdinand, the present rightful sovereign

of the Two Sicilies.

Returning from Naples to Rome, Mengs undertook to paint the ceiling of the gallery of the Villa Albani. He treated his subject, Apollo and the Mases, in an entirely new mɛune", and manifested in the execation, that he had studied with advantage the paintings of HerenJaneum, preserved in the museum at Portici. He next painted several pieces in oil, among which were, Cleopatra at the feet of Cesar; a Blessed Virgin with the infant Jesus; a St. John and St. Joseph; a Magdalea for a Nea-, politan prince, and several pictures for Eng

land.

Mengs now thought himself fixed for life at Rome, but Charles III. who had become acquainted with his merits at Naples, offered him, through the medium of his ambassador, an establishment in Spain, together with a house, an equipage, and a considerable salary. Mengs accepted the offer, and embarked for that country in October 1761. On his arrival at Madrid, he found at the court two great painters, whose rivalsbip only tended to display his talents to greater advantage. In spite of all the calumnies of envy, which were assiduously circulated against him, the King shewed him the most distinguished favour. The number of pieces which he executed at Madrid is almost incredible, if we consider the short time of his residence there, and the wretched state of his health. His indefatigable industry, his irregular diet, his total seclusion from society, his separation from his family which had remained behind at Rome, and the irritation excited by the base machinations of malice and envy, visibly impaired his health. He lost his appetite and fell into a decline, so that his death was thought to be very near at hand. In this condition the King granted him permission to return to Rome; but being incapable of supporting the fatigues of the jouruey, he was obliged to stop short at Monaco, where medical assistance, and the salubrity of the air soon enabled him to pursue his route.

On his arrival at Rome, his health and spirits were sufficiently recruited to allow him to resume his pencil; and he painted several pieces, two of which were engraved by his sonin-law, Carmona. He likewise undertook to paint a cabinet of the museum of Clement XIV.

Mengs had been near three years in Italy, when the King of Spain, who continued the payment of his salary as usual, directed a particular friend of the painter to enquire, with all possible delicacy, why he did not return to

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mained several months, and painted some portraits. At length he reached Madrid, and so indefatigable was his application that it is almost inconceivable how he could have produced so many pieces as are there shewn of his performance. This excessive industry soon impaired his health again, and again he received permission to return to Rome. At the

Madrid, as his health was now re-established. This question, though the injunctions of the monarch were most scrupulously obeyed, absolutely turned the brain of our artist. He left his work at the Vatican unfinished, and turning a deaf ear to all remonstrances, set out for Naples. Here he began the portraits of the reigning sovereigns, as he had promised the King their father, but before he had finish-same time the King made a considerable addied them he departed from Naples as abruptly as he had done from Rome. Having first completed his undertaking at the Vatican, he proceeded to Florence, where he re

tion to his salary, and bestowed gratuities on his children.

[To be concluded in our next.]

ON PAINTING.
[Continued from Page 10.]

AN obscure Italian painter, named Giovani Ghirardini, who travelled into China, whose judgment is more to be depended on in an art which he practised than that of other travellers, declares that the Chinese have not the least idea of the fine arts; and this opinion is confirmed by every thing which we know of that people.

The Chinese seem not to have the smallest conception of perspective. Their landscapes have no plan, no variety in the appearance of the clouds, and no diminishing of the objects in proportion to their distance.

The great object of their painting seems to consist in making their figures as unlike nature as possible: it is a serious caricature of the human figure.

To make the art flourish, it is necessary that the artist be esteemed and rewarded. In China, there is no artist so poorly paid as the pain

ter.

The ignorant admire the brightness and purity of their colours; but simple colours appear always bright and pure: the difficulty of the art consists in melting them into one an other in such a manner that the mixture shall not be perceived. It must at the same time be confessed, that their natural colours are || more brilliant than ours; but if there be any merit in this, it is to be ascribed to their climate, not to their ability.

A Jesuit missionary, who in his youth had been a grinder of colours, was raised to the greatest eminence as a painter in the Imperial court of China, and Raphael himself was never so much respected. The Chinese battles sent from that country to Paris to be engraved, are the works of the Jesuits; and except they were done by the Chinese themselves, it is im

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possible to conceive that they could be worse executed.

The Chinese, like other eastern nations, have a few simple strokes which they repeat in all their variety of figures. In the figures on the earthen-ware, they discover no knowledge of forms, no expression of the most conspicuous muscles, and no idea of proportion. And in all the paintings of China, anatomy seems to bear no relation to the art. Some heads done by a Chinese painter have a sort of resemblance to nature, but they are in a low and vicious taste: the fulness of the drapery conceals the parts in such a manner that they do not seem to exist under it. Sculpture in China is in a state of no great perfection, but at the same time it is better executed than their paintings.

The ancient inhabitants of Etruria, now called Tuscany, were the first who connected the arts with the study of nature. In some of their monuments which still remain, there is to be observed a first style, which shows the art in its infancy; and a second, which, like the works of the Florentine artists, shows more of greatness and exaggeration in the character than precision or beauty.

Pliny says that painting was carried to great perfection in Italy before the foundation of Rome; perhaps he means in comparison with the infancy of the art in Greece at that period; but it appears that even in his time the painters of Etruria were held in great reputation.

The only Etrurian paintings which remain, have been found in the tombs of the Tarquins.. They consist of loug painted friezes, and pilasters adorned with huge figures, which occupied the whole space from the base to the

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