Point of View #29
Mengs and Velázquez
The Princess of Naples
17 January 2025 to 5 October 2025
Tickets
Inv.-Nr. 1640 Picture Gallery, Kunsthistorisches Museum © KHM-Museumsverband
In its 29th edition, the special presentation Point of View, which regularly presents different artworks temporarily in the permanent exhibition of the Picture Gallery of the Kunsthistorische Museum, focuses on a masterful portrait of the nine-month-old Princess Maria Teresa of Naples and Sicily, allowing visitors to explore the work of the court painters Anton Raphael Mengs and Diego Velázquez.
In 1770, Anton Raphael Mengs (1728–1779), the celebrated court painter to King Charles III of Spain, returned to Italy to recuperate and at the same time to produce portraits on behalf of his employer: In Naples, he was commissioned to paint portraits of the family of King Ferdinand IV and his wife Maria Carolina of Austria, among others. A highlight of these works is the now newly restored portrait of Maria Teresa of Naples and Sicily, the first-born daughter of the royal couple.
The portrait of the nine-month-old princess stands out for its artistic refinement. Mengs created a work of art that combines traditional forms of representation with a new kind of naturalness and aliveness. In this way, the painting reflects a changed view on the idea of childhood that spread in the 18th century – influenced by the pedagogical views of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which Maria Carolina particularly appreciated.
Mengs‘ work also clearly shows references to the style of Diego Velázquez (1599–1660), his most important predecessor as a Spanish court painter. Particularly striking are the similarities with Velázquez‘s portrait of the Infanta Margarita in a Pink Gown. These concern not only to the pose and clothing, but also to the painterly technique: in no other painting by Mengs is his virtuoso brushwork expressed as succinctly as here, where dabs of color give shape and vibration to the embroidery and lace of the dress.
The portrait not only demonstrates Mengs' extraordinary ability to combine representation and personality, but possibly also reflects the dynastic interests of the subject's mother: Maria Carolina had the painting sent to the young lady's grandmother, Empress Maria Theresa, in Vienna. It is probably no coincidence that Mengs followed in the tradition of Velázquez's portraits of the Infanta, which were held in high esteem at the Habsburg court. Like the Infanta before her, Maria Teresa of Naples and Sicily later became Empress of the Holy Roman Empire through the marriage to her cousin Francis II/I. (1790).
"More Mengs" can be seen in Room VII of the Picture Gallery: four more brilliant paintings by the internationally active master, including an altarpiece that has not been on display for almost a century and was only recently extensively restored thanks to donations.
Open-Access-Publication
Mengs and Velázquez – The Princess of Naples
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Information
17 January 2025
to 5 October 2025
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Kabinett 13
Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Wien
Opening times
Tue – Sun, 10 a.m.–6 p.m
Thursdays, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.
Closed on mondays
Tickets
The presentation is included in the museum admission.
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