ANTON RAPHAEL MENGS (1728-1779)

John Brudenell-Montague, later Marquess of Monthermer (1758)

Oil on canvas (244 x 171 cm)

The Duke of Buccleuch

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John Lord Brudenell (1735-1770), who wore the title of Marquess of Monthermer from 1766, was the only son of Geroge Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan and from 1766 Duke of Montagu who was one of the founders of the British Museum. At the age of 17, he was sent on the Grand Tour, in the company of his tutor Henry Lyle. According to the letters from Lyle to the Earl of Cardigan, Brudenell was particularly interested in Greek antiquities in southern Italy, visiting among other places Paestum and Agrigento.

The documents published by John Fleming give us detailed information on how the commission was given to Mengs and the time the portrait was painted. Brudenell’s tutor Henry Lyle wrote on 1 March 1758 to Brudenell’s father: “Mengs and Batoni had both begun my Lord Brudenell’s portrait. The former a full-length and the latter a half-length. They have promised to finish them out of hand and they will be both fine pictures, the more so as there is a great emulation between those two celebrated painters” (Steffi Roettgen = “Anton Raphael Mengs and his British patrons” 1993, p. 48)

It is striking that here, where Batoni and Mengs were painting the same subject at the same time, and, as Lyle says, were rivals. Batoni should choose the type of half-length, close-up view preferred by Mengs, and that Mengs should use the type Batoni generally favoured. The possibility cannot be excluded that each painter chose deliberately the type of portrait usually favoured by his rival in order to show that he could equal the other’s achievements.

Mengs shows Brudenell seated at a table, with the figure in full-length. A pile of books is on the table beside a bust of Cicero. A dog lies at his feet, looking up to him. In the background, through the half-open curtain, we can see trees suggesting a rural setting. The mood of the room and the presentation of the sitter create an atmosphere representative of Lord Brudenell’s social milieu.

Each artist shows a different side of Brudenell’s personality. Batoni (see my post The Noble Musician) depicts him with a mandolin and a music book, his expression is dreamy, and he is looking slightly away from the viewer. He seems to be thinking of a musical score, and the child-like air of his facial expression makes him look much younger than his 23 years. Mengs, on the other hand, shows Brudenell as a scholar. He looks older and appears serious and highly intellectual