Mater Dolorosa

A stunningly beautiful Mater Dolorosa is the work of the bohemian painter Anton Rafael Mengs (1728–1779), who succeeded Giaquinto as Charles III’s first Court painter. 

In contrast to Giaquinto’s rococo sensibility, Mengs introduced an idealistic and classicist style inspired by Raphael, Correggio, and classical sculpture. He influenced spanish painters of the time, such as Bayeu, Maella, and Goya himself, who took the master’s paintings, which reflected the “ideal of beauty", as their model. It was painted during Mengs’s first stay in Spain, around 1765–1769. Exquisitely executed with a porcelain-like finish and very thin layers of paint, it is a work of restrained religious emotion, in keeping with enlightenment sensibilities.