Anton Raphael Mengs

(Aussig, 1728 - Roma, 1779)

Attributed to

Oil on canvas

cm. 42x36. Framed

The painting depicts the Irish Trinitarian Father John Gahagan, died in Naples in 1774, who was a prominent figure in the convent of Trinitarian in Via dei Condotti in Rome. The friar agreed to be portrayed by Mengs on the condition that the painter did not depict him in cassock clothing.  There are at least three other portraits of the prelate: in particular, the close compositional affinity of our canvas with the painting formerly in the Drey collection in Munich should be noted (see S. Roettgen, Anton Raphel Mengs. Band 1, n. 210, pg. 280).