Anton Rafael Mengs, Design for a ceiling, Madrid Palace.

Design for a ceiling painting with Apollo and Athena Rewarding the Talents, Mount Parnassus, and flanking medallions with Mars, Venus, Hercules and Cybele, accompanied by supporting Caryatids, Ignudi and Putti

Acquired, probably in Spain, by J.C. Robinson; described (V&A Archive, Nominal file: Robinson, J.C. Pt. 1 1861-1881. MA/1/R1277/1) as 'Original design by Raffael Mengs for one of the painted ceilings of the Royal Palace of Madrid. Second half of 18th century.' in the list of a collection of 301 'acquisitions he has made from time to time in his travels in Spain' lent to the South Kensington Museum on 8 May 1879 and purchased by the museum for a total of £6800 in two installments on 28 May 1879 and 15 April 1880.

Mengs lived for many years in Rome, and his fascination with Raphael is manifest in his full-size copy of The School of Athens from the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican, commissioned in 1752-5 by the Duke of Northumberland (London, Victoria and Albert Museum, P.36-1926). His fresco of Parnassus with Apollo, Mnemosyne and the Muses, painted in 1761 for Cardinal Alessandro Albani demonstrated how the visual arts could be reformed by the study of antiquity. Summoned to Madrid by Charles III, he became 'primer pintor de camára' in succession to Corrado Giaquinto. At the Palacio Real in 1763-4 he painted a ceiling painting of The Triumph of Aurora for the Queen's Bedchamber and began The Apotheosis of Hercules in the King's Conversation Room. After a leave of absence in 1769-74, Mengs returned to Madrid, and undertook further royal commissions, but his health broke down, and in 1777 he retired to Rome.

This large and detailed coloured presentation drawing seems to have served as a study for a ceiling painting in the Ante-Room of the Princess of Asturias in the east wing of the Palacio Real, executed by Luis and Antonio González Velázquez, probably in 1765. It later belonged to J.C. Robinson. One of the greatest connoisseurs of the 19th century, he was the principal curator of the Victoria and Museum from 1857-67, and an authority on Renaissance art, old master drawings, and the art of Spain. This is one of numerous studies illustrative of design which Robinson acquired for the V&A.

The form and content of this drawing has been considered at some length by Steffi Roettgen. Its combination of a rectangular central scene framed by richly decorated coving with fictive sculptural figures resembles earlier Roman decorated ceilings such as that of 1597-1608 supervised by Annibale Carracci at the Galleria Farnese, while the surrounding Ignudi recall Michaelangelo's Sistine Ceiling. Athena and Apollo are paired as personifications of Wisdom and the Arts. The representation of Apollo on Mount Parnassus reflects knowledge of Raphael's fresco of this subject in the Vatican Stanza, and perhaps acquaintance with Poussin's Apollo and the Muses in the Spanish royal collection (Madrid, Prado). Apollo is accompanied by the nine Muses and a group of figures including a prominent bearded man, most probably the ancient poet Homer. In the sky above flutter putti and the winged horse Pegasus. At the opposite side of the central field, Athena is seated on a cloud attended by Fame blowing a trumpet and Glory bearing laurel wreaths. Before the goddess, the figure gesturing to a tablet supported by a putto is probably History showing the names of those being rewarded, perhaps modern poets such as Dante and Ariosto. The flanking representations of Mars, Venus, Hercules and Cybele may represent the four seasons Winter, Summer, Spring and Autumn as well as the corresponding conditions of Peace, Love, Rest and Wealth, which are necessary for Wisdom and the Arts to flourish.

Provenance: John Charles Robinson (1824-1913); from whom purchased prior to 1879 by the South Kensington Museum (now Victoria and Albert Museum); recorded in Register of Drawings 1875-1879, June 19 1879 as 'transferred from Art Museum. Purchased with collection of J.C. Robinson. 8453. Design by Raffaelle Mengs, for one of the Painted Ceilings of the Royal Palace. Madrid'.

8453