Getty Museum
Portrait of Friedrich Christian, Prince of Saxony
Creator
Anton Raphael MengsGerman Artist · 1728–1779
All works by this person →Like many artists during the 1700s, Anton Raphael Mengs developed his masterful painting skills by studying works from antiquity, the Renaissance, and the Baroque, all of which he encountered while in Italy. Mengs began to study art seriously at the age of twelve, when he accompanied his father on a trip to Rome. He remained there for four years making drawings, and then returned to Dresden where
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1751
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Culture
- German
- Department
- Paintings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
- Object ID
- ab9f783d-9b19-496d-9326-e1fe6fea3362
From the Getty Museum record
This splendid portrait captures the pink-cheeked optimism of a youthful prince whose future seems filled with promise. The precocious Mengs was only twenty-three years old when he painted this likeness of Friedrich Christian (1722-1763), heir to the throne at the Saxon court in Dresden. Modeled after images of the prince's royal ancestors, the painting asserts Friedrich Christian's dynastic legitimacy while also conveying a sense of his lively mind and kindly temperament. It conceals his disability (likely cerebral palsy), which in reality would have prevented him from adopting the confident stance seen here. Friedrich Christian assumed the throne in 1763 but died of smallpox only a few months into his reign.
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