Probably the Della Torrre di Rezzonico family [the family of the sitter], Venice. Comte General Roquet, Paris. Somzee Collection, Brussels; (sale, Fievez, Brussels, 25 May 1904, no. 359, as Giovanni Battista Tiepolo); purchased by Schartz. Vicomte Journin Aubert, Paris. Hauer Collection, Paris. Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia. Acquired 1931 in Paris by (F. Kleinberger Galleries, Paris and New York); [1] (Kleinberger sale, American Art Association,18 November 1932, no. 58., as Pompeo Batoni); Samuel H. Kress [1863-1955] in 1932; gift to the New Orleans Museum of Art in 1934, no. 34.1. [1] Kleinberger Gallery stock card no. 16133, Department of European Paintings, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Anton Raphael Mengs
Portrait of Pope Clement XIII
K239

New Orleans, Louisiana, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art (34.1), since 1934. Oil on very fine canvas. 52 7/8 x 38 in. (134.3 x 96.5 cm.). In his left hand the Pope holds a paper inscribed: Alla Santita di Nostro Clemente XIII feliciter Regnante. The Rezzonico arms are lightly indicated on the carved finials of the chair back, and on a raised cartouche of the standish with bell at the right: Quarterly 1) gules a cross argent, 2) and 3) azure a tower argent, 4) gules three bends argent, overall a shield or charged with a double-headed eagle sable crowned, or and ensigned with an antique crown.(2) Some abrasion in face, which now appears flatter than it does in the X-ray. Relined, cleaned and restored in 1933 by Pichetto; cleaned and restored by Modestini in 1953. William E. Suida (revised by Paul Wescher), The Samuel H. Kress Collection, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, 1966, p. 66. Carlo della Torre Rezzonico (1693-1769) was born into a patrician Venetian family and educated by the Jesuits. He received his law degree at Padua. After filling important appointments at the Curia, he became Cardinal-Deacon in 1737, Bishop of Padua in 1743, Cardinal-Priest in 1747, and succeeded Benedict XIV in 1758. The eleven years of Clement XIII's pontificate were marked by constant dispute concerning the question of the abolition of the Jesuit order. Clement died the day before the convening of the Consistory he had called to combat the Bourbon plan to terminate the order.(3) Clement XIII is depicted in a columned chamber, in the traditional papal portrait formula established in the early sixteenth century: seated, shown to just below the knee, with a desk at his side. He is clad in regular papal attire, wearing a veste covered by a long-sleeved lace-trimmed rochetto of white linen with a short fur-trimmed velvet shoulder cape, the mozzetta, and the great silken papal stola embroidered with gold thread and tied with a golden tasseled cord, with a fur-trimmed velvet berettino or skull-cap on his head. The painting is executed in somewhat grayed Venetian coloring. K239 is one of several portraits of Clement XIII executed by Mengs or his studio. Of these, it is closest to the painting now in Bologna (Pinacoteca Nazionale, datable c. 1758). Presumably an autograph work of Mengs, the Bologna example has the same inscription as K239 and a signature.(4) The canvas differs in tonality and technique from Mengs' oeuvre. Broad and free in handling and Venetian coloring, the portrait was formerly attributed to Giovanni Battista Tiepolo who was patronized by Clement XIII. As the original painting by Mengs may have been in the Venetian residence of the Rezzonico family (Bianconi recorded this and another in Rome), it is likely that a local artist may have been asked to make a replica.(5) Mengs had a Venetian assistant in his studio, and it was probably this 'giovane veneziano' who painted K239.(6) If this portrait is modeled upon the papal portrait by Mengs described by Winckel­mann in a letter dated 1 December 1758 as just completed, it is probable that it was painted within the following few years.(7) Provenance: Général Comte Roquet, Paris (?). Somzée Collection, Brussels (Brussels, Vente, Collections de Somzée, part II, 26-28,30 May 1904, Cat. No. 359 as by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo). The following three collections were given in the Kleinberger Sale of 1932: Vicomte Journin Aubert, Paris; Hauer Collection, Paris; Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia. F. Kleinberger, Paris (sale, New York, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, Important Paintings by Masters of the Old Schools collected by Mr. F. Kleinberger, Sold by his Order, 18 Nov. 1932, p. 90, Cat. No. 58, as by Pompeo Batoni). Kress acquisition 1932.

References

(1) D. Honisch, Anton Raphael Mengs,Recklinghousen, 1965. (2) J. B. Rietstap, Armorial Général, 2nd ed., Gouda, 1884-87, II, p. 560. (3) Sidney Smith, 'Clement XIII', The Catholic Encyclopaedia, IV, 1908, pp. 32-4. (4) Honisch, op. cit., p. 85, Cat. No. 76. Considerably larger than the Kress portrait, it measures 153 x 109.9 cm. A different composition by Mengs is in the Ambrosiana, Milan. In Gripsholm (State Portrait Collection) is a version identical in composition to the Kress and Bologna portraits but with oval format (cut down?), with the Pope facing left, and his right arm raised in benediction. According to Honisch (pp. 141-2, Cat. No. 376) the Gripsholm painting is by a master in the Mengs circle. It measures 114 x 95 cm. Identical with K239 and the Bologna composition is the portrait in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 134.3 x 97.8 cm., except that the Pope's right arm is raised in benediction and the painting is inferior in quality. (5) G. L. Bianconi, Elogio storico del Cavaliere Anton Raffaele Mengs, Milan, 1780, in the unpaged catalog at the beginning of the text and p. 40. Dr. Steffi Röttgen (letter of 6/XI/68) believed the portrait now in the Ambrosiana to be identical with the one listed in Rome by Bianconi. (6) Dr. Röttgen has kindly provided the following extract from Azara-Fea, Opere di Antonio Raffaello Mengs, Rome, 1787, pp. 253-4, 'Avvenne poco tempo fa, che mentre in una compagnia di artisti, e di dilettanti si osservavano e lodavano due ritratti dipinti da un giovane veneziano, un pittore de' Barbassori ... al sentire, che il lodato giovane stava copiando il ritratto di Papa Rezzonico fatto da Mengs disse ... , che dopo quello studio il suo pannello si troverebbe in discapito'. (7) Kurt Gerstenberg, Johann Joachim Winckelmann und Anton Raphael Mengs, Halle, 1929, p. 20, discussing the Bologna painting, believed it to have been executed rapidly, as Mengs was about to leave Rome for Naples. Honisch seemed to follow Gerstenberg's view (op. cit., p. 85).

Catalogue Volume

European Paintings Excluding Italian