(Ústí nad Labem 1728–1779 Rome)
Portrait of Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico (1724–1799), half-length,
oil on canvas, 75 x 62 cm, framed

Provenance:
Federico Zeri collection, Mentana (Rome);
Private European collection

Literature:
S. Roettgen, Anton Raphael Mengs: 1728-1779. Das malerische und zeichnerische Werk, Munich 1999, vol. I, p. 295, cat. no. WK 3, not illustrated (mentioned under copies);
M. Gallo, I cardinali Carlo Rezzonico, Giovanni Ottavio Bufalini, Giovanni Battista Rezzonico e il pittore Giovanni Domenico Porta, in: Sal terrae, ac lucernae positae super candelabrum, Rome 2001, p. 60, footnote 23, not illustrated (mentioned as a version)

We are grateful to Steffi Roettgen for suggesting the attribution of the present painting to Anton Raphael Mengs and his workshop on the basis of high-resolution digital photographs.

The present work is a variant of the three-quarter length portrait of Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico by Anton Raphael Mengs in a private collection, Italy (see op. cit. Roettgen, 1999, cat. no. 227).

Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico, born in 1724, was the nephew of Pope Clemente XIII (1693-1769). He served as Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church from 1758 to 1763, Camerlengo from 1763 to 1799 and he was also Secretary of the Roman Inquisition (1777-1799).