Anton Raphael Mengs

Born in Bohemia in 1728, Anton Raphael Mengs was immersed in the world of art from an early age, tutored by his Danish-born painter father, Ismael Mengs. His father, who had an affair with the family housekeeper, took his mother to Bohemia to conceal the birth of Anton and his older sister, Therese Concordia Maron, who also became a painter. The family later moved to Rome in 1741, where Mengs's father copied Raphael's works for the Elector of Saxony, laying the groundwork fo…