Saint Eusebius carried to Heaven

Anton Raphael Mengs 1728 - 1779

Summary

This is a first sketch for the first fresco painted by Mengs and his first commission in Rome, the ceiling painting in the Church of the Celestinian Monks of S Eusebio, on which he worked from 1757 to 1759. As such, it forms an important part of Mengs's oeuvre. At the age of 17 (1745), Mengs was court painter to Elector Augustus II of Saxony and from 1761 court painter to Charles III in Madrid. He spent much of his career between Rome and Madrid, working in a Neo-Classical style that was widely admired across Europe. His portraits were in great demand by the English. The subject of this oil sketch is the apotheosis of Eusebius of Rome, who defied Emperor Constantius II and Pope Liberius to continue practising the Nicene Creed, which they had rejected. Eusebius was duly imprisoned and died a martyr some months later. The attributes of St Eusebius, a chain and chalice, are in the fresco, but not in the oil sketch. In taking on an important ceiling fresco - which demanded a high degree of intellectual effort and technical expertise - Mengs allowed himself to be judged relative to a long and illustrious Italian artistic tradition. The composition draws on both Correggio, whose work Mengs had studied in his youth, and 17th and 18th century Roman ceiling decoration. The Manchester painting has unusually rich colouring for an oil sketch and gives a good idea of the original appearance of the fresco.