Exhibition year Prado Museum He does not say goodbye silently. It does this through a huge exhibition dedicated to Antonio Rafael Mingsone of the most influential names of the 18th century and, at the same time, one of the most discussed. It is considered by many to be the driving force behind Neoclassical In Europe, his work is once again at the center of debate thanks to a retrospective exhibition bringing together 159 pieces including paintings, drawings, decorative arts and studies on paper. It’s not a minor review: it’s a major review. Prado Gallery About the artist to date and one of the museum’s most ambitious works in recent years.
The Foundation proposes an in-depth tour of its production and artistic thought, but also of its connection with Madrid and the Bourbon Court. Mengez was not an accidental visitor: he was great Painter of Charles IIIcollaborator of the king and author of many of the most emblematic cabinets, dressing rooms and galleries of the royal palace.
An artist among the palaces, Rome and the Spanish court
The son of a Saxon painter and trained between Dresden and Rome, Mengs converted to Catholicism before taking over the directorship of the Vatican School of Painting, a position reserved for the best talent. From there he made the final leap to the Spanish court, where Charles III welcomed him not only as an artist, but as an aesthetic advisor at the height of the artistic movement. Neoclassical.
The exhibition reconstructs this vital and professional journey through a discourse divided into ten thematic sections. In it we can see his ability as a formal portrait painter, an author of large fresco programs and a theoretical thinker capable of dialogue with decisive figures such as Raphael, Correggio or Winckelmann. The result is a vision broader than that of the simple chamber artist: Menjez emerges as a decisive factor in the transformation of European taste.
159 He works to understand his heritage
Among the most valuable loans Lamentation for the dead Christfrom the Royal Collections Gallery; Jupiter and GanymedeFrom Barberini Palace. and Octavian and Cleopatraon loan from the British National Trust. Added to this are pieces from 25 international institutions, nine Spanish collections and ten private funds. The staff confirms something obvious: Mengs’ weight in eighteenth-century European art was much greater than his later fame demonstrated.
The exhibition also highlights an artist whose works still live on in Madrid’s architecture. All you have to do is search the Saleta or the king’s antechamber in the Royal Palace to find his frescoes, or take a tour of Aranjuez to see how his brush characterized the court aesthetics of an entire era.
Goodbye to a year with an academic career
he Prado Museum The year 2025 concludes with an exhibition that functions as a window into the past and as a critical review of the canon. Meng’s work, overshadowed for decades by Goya’s giant shadow, here regains its historical, technical and intellectual dimension. The selection of works shows an artistic language that anticipates the break with the late Baroque and opens the way to a more sober, structured and rational sensibility: the essence Neoclassical.
The exhibition can be visited until March 1, 2026. Tickets cost €15 – €7.50 for the reduced price – and, as always, admission to the museum is free from Monday to Saturday between 6pm and 8pm, and on Sundays and holidays from 5pm to 7pm.
An essential quote for anyone who wants to understand why, in the 18th century, the Saxon and Catholic artist became the aesthetic voice of an enlightened king and one of the most influential names in European art.