A. R. MENGS’ “ACADEMIC RIGORISM”. ORIGINS OF AN INCORRECT INTERPRETATION OF HIS INNOVATIVE IDEAS IN CARLOS III’S SPAIN

Abstract

Mengs was the artist that History remembers as the painter philosopher. Some negative attributes used to describe him up to the Seventies of the last century are due to the misinterpretation of his theoretical writings, translated and published by José Nicolás of Azara and affected by manipulations and falsifi cations. Other negative reviews come from the diffi cult relation between Mengs and the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, which he eventually left because of an incompatible conception of academic institution and of formation of the artists. His presence let the institution take its fi rst steps for leaving the relentless isolation to which it was condemned by the bad administration of the government’s organs.