Dream of Joseph

Artist Anton Raphael Mengs (German, 1728 – 1779)

Date1774-79

CultureItalian

MediumOil on wood

ClassificationPaintings

ProvenancePainted for George Nassau Clavering-Cowper (1738–1789), 3rd Earl Cowper, Florence; gift in 1786 to John Frederick Sackville (1745–1799), 3rd Duke of Dorset, Knole House, Sevenoaks, Kent; by inheritance to his wife, Arabella Diana Sackville (née Cope) (1767–1825), Duchess of Dorset, who in 1801 married Charles Whitworth (1752–1825), 1st Earl Whitworth, Knole House, Sevenoaks, Kent; (sold Whitworth sale, Christie’s, London, 25 June 1808, lot 90, for £29–8s, to William Sequier acting for Robert Grosvenor); Robert Grosvenor (1767–1845), 1st Marquess of Westminster, Grosvenor House, London; by inheritance to Richard Grosvenor (1795–1869), 2nd Marquess of Westminster, Grosvenor House, London; by inheritance to Hugh Lupus Grosvenor (1825–1899), 1st Duke of Westminster, Grosvenor House, London; by inheritance to Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor (1879–1953), 2nd Duke of Westminster, Grosvenor House, London; (sold Westminster sale, Christie’s, London, 4 July 1924, lot 19, for £24–3s, to Arthur U. Newton, New York); John Ringling (1866–1936), Sarasota, Florida; bequest in 1936 to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida.

Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936

Object numberSN328

Mengs, a German Bohemian artist, was active in Rome, Madrid, and Dresden. He is best known today for his study and admiration of classical art—particularly sculpture—and his key role, along with his close friend, the philosopher Johann Joachim Winckelmann, in championing a Neoclassical aesthetic. The monumental, heavily muscled figure of Joseph here recalls both ancient sculpture as well as the work of Michelangelo, whose work Mengs studied first-hand in Italy. In this scene from the Bible, Joseph is warned by an angel to remove his family from Bethlehem to escape King Herod’s massacre.

On View

On view

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