
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00000903Portrait of Cardinal Zelada
Provenance
Cardinal Francesco Saverio de Zelada (died 1801), Rome, until 1801. Probably Marchese Pierfrancesco Rinuccini (died circa 1852), Florence, by 1845 [see Rinuccini catalogue, 1845, p. 17, no. 16]. Antonio Baccelli, Rome, 1959 [lent to Rome 1959]. Marcello and Carlo Sestieri, Rome, 1959; sold to the Art Institute, 1969.
Exhibition history
Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Il Settecento a Roma, March 19 - May 31, 1959, cat. 1451. Art Institute of Chicago, European Portraits 1600-1900 in The Art Institute of Chicago, July 8–Sep. 11, 1978, cat. 11 (ill.). Art Institute of Chicago, The Art of the Edge: European Frames 1300-1900, Oct. 17–Dec. 14, 1986, cat. 25. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, Anton Raphael Mengs, Nov. 25, 2025–Mar. 1, 2026. cat. 28.
Publications
Supplemento alla serie dei trecento elogi e ritratti degli uomini I piu’ illustri in pittura, scultura e architettura… (Florence, 1776), col. 107. Carlo Giuseppi Ratti, Epilogo della vita del fu Cavaliere Antonio Raffaello Ments… (Genoa, 1779), p. VIII; edition of 1795 (Pavia, 1795), pp. IX, 89-90. Diario Ordinario, Rome, no. 554 (22 April, 1780), pp. 8-9. [Giovanni Lodovico Bianconi], Elogio Storico del Cavaliere Anton Raffaele Mengs (Milan, 1780), p. [6]. [Doray de Longrais], Oeuvres de M. Mengs, Premier Peintre du Roi d’Espagne & du Roi de Pologne, Professeur de l’Académie Capitoline à Rome, etc. (Regensburg, 1782), p. 25. C.F. Prang, Des Ritters Anton Raphael Mengs, ersten Mahlers Karl III. Königs in Spanien hinterlaßne Werke, vol. 1 (Halle, 1786), pp. 54, 110. D. José Nicolás de Azara, Opere di Antonio Raffaello Mengs, primo pittore del Re Cattolico Carlo III, ed. by Carlo Fea (Rome, 1787), pp. XXIV, LXVII. D. Juan Andres, Cartas familiares del Abate D. Juan Andres a su hermano D. Carlos Andres dandole noticia del viage que hizo á varias ciudades de Italia en el año 1785, vol. 1 (Madrid, 1791), p. 187. G. K. Nagler, “Mengs, Anton Rafael” in Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon, vol. 9 (Munich, 1840), p. 106. Federico Fantozzi, Nuova guida ovvero descrizione storico-artistico-critica della cittá e contorni di Firenze (Florence, 1843), p. 724. G. Schilling, Anton Raphael Mengs’ sämmtliche hinterlassene Schriften, vol. 1 (Bonn, 1843), p. 27, no. 3; vol. 2 (Bonn, 1844), p. 202 Catalogue dei quadri ed altri oggetti della Galleria Rinuccini per comodo dei signori che favoriscono visitaria (Florence, 1845), p. 17, no. 16. Giacinto Cantalamessa Carboni, Ricerche sulla vita del Commendatore Annibal Caro e considerazioni intorno le sue opere (Ascoli, 1858), p. 324. Società e corte di Firenze sotto il regno di Francesco II e Leopoldo I di Lorena-Absburgo (Florence, 1877), p. 183. Karl Woermann, “Ismael und Anton Raphael Mengs,” Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, N.F. 5 (1894), p. 288. Dieter Honisch, Anton Raphael Mengs und die Bildform des Frühklassizismus (Recklinghausen, 1965), p. 126, no. 266. Anton Haidacher, Geschichte der Päpste in Bildern, mit einem geschichtlichen Überblick von Josef Wodka. Eine Dokumentation zur Papstgeschichte von Ludwig, Freiherr von Pastor (Zurich, 1965), p. 713, ill. Ruth Davidson, "Museum Accessions," Antiques 96 (1969), p. 670 (ill.). "Recent Accessions" Apollo 90, 89 (1969), p. 78, fig. 6. J[oseph] J. R[ishel], Calendar of The Art Institute of Chicago 63 (Summer 1969), n. p., ill. on cover. The Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report 1968-1969 (Chicago, 1969), pp. 16, 17. "La Chronique des arts," supplement to the Gazette des Beaux-Arts series, no 1203 (April, 1969), p. 5. "La Chronique des arts," supplement to the Gazette des Beaux-Arts series 6, 75 (1970), p. 73, fig. 36. Steffi Röttgen, "Two Portraits by Mengs in The Art Institute of Chicago," Museum Studies 5 (1970), pp. 65-72, fig. 1. John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (New York, 1970), pp. 64 (ill.), 284. Herbert von Einem, Anton Raphael Mengs: Briefe an Raimondo Ghelli und Anton Maron (Göttingen, 1973), pp. 68-69, 103 n. 1. Susan Wise, “European Portraits 1600–1900,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 72, 4 (1978), pp.16–17 (ill.). Carlo Pietrangeli, “L’Appartamento del Cardinal Zelada in Vaticano,” Bollettino dei Musei e Gallerie Pontificie 6 (1986), p. 160, fig. 6. Steffi Roettgen, Anton Raphael Mengs 1728-1779, vol. 1 (Munich, 1999), pp. 309-310, no. 240, ill. Ornella Francisci Osti, "Key Figures in Eighteenth-Century Rome," in Edgar Peters Bowron and Joseph J. Rishel, eds., Art in Rome in the Eighteenth Century, exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2000, p. 103. Javier Jordán de Urríes y de la Colina and Andrés Úbeda de los Cabos, eds., Anton Raphael Mengs, 1728–1779, exh. cat. (Madrid: Museo Nacionbal del Prado, 2025), 69, 237–39, cat. 28 (ill.).
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Anton Raphael Mengs (German, 1728–1779)
- Date
- 1773
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Dimensions
- 90 × 66 cm (35 7/16 × 26 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- oil on panel
- Style
- 18th Century
- Place
- Germany
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Purchased with funds provided by Silvain and Arma Wyler Foundation
- Accession no.
- 1969.2
More by Anton Raphael Mengs in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00000903
Powered by Art Trackers



