| agent |
after Raphael (Italian painter, 1483-1520); Anton Raphael Mengs (German painter, 1728-1779);
Hugh Smithson Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland (British patron, 1712-1786)
|
| culturalContext |
Italian; British |
| date |
1752-1755 (creation) |
| description |
Philosophy is one of a series of five copies of famous Italian frescoes commissioned
from Mengs and other artists by the Earl of Northumberland in 1752 to hang in the
long gallery in Northumberland House (for the other four see C.M. Kauffmann, Catalogue
of Foreign Paintings, vol I, London, 1973, pp. 189-90). When Northumberland House
was demolished in 1874, the painting was moved and eventually gifted to the V&A in
1926. Raphael's fresco of Philosophy, known as the School of Athens, was executed
between 1508-1511 and fills a lunette in the Stanza della Segnatura in the papal apartments
in the Vatican. In order to adapt this enormous painting to a rectangular format without
diminishing the size of the figures, Mengs has truncated and compressed the architectural
elements and sculptural forms at the top, while inserting additional figures at the
side. Where the original fresco is disturbed (on the left) by the top of a door, Mengs
has inserted a plinth bearing his signature, the title and date, while repositioning
the painted reliefs to suit this addition.
V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum) [website]; http://www.vam.ac.uk (accessed 12/10/2013) [description source] |
| inscription |
Inscribed: PHILOSPH.OPVS RAPHAELIS EX. AUTOGRAPHO PINX. RAPH. MENGS. MD CCLV |
| location |
Victoria and Albert Museum (London, England, United Kingdom) P.36-1926 [repository]
Given by the Duke of Northumberland, 1926 [location note] |
| material |
oil paint on canvas |
| measurements |
425 cm (height) x 840 cm (width) |
| relation |
copyAfter School of Athens [Core 4 Sample Database, refid="38" relids="w_39"] |
| rights |
|
| source |
Core 4 Sample Database (VCat) |
| stateEdition |
|
| stylePeriod |
Eighteenth century; Renaissance |
| subject |
allegorical; historical; portraits; scientific or medical; Classical education; Humanism;
Raphael
|
| technique |
oil painting (technique) |
| textref |
|
| title |
School of Athens [copy] [descriptive, true, en]
Copy of Raphael's 'School of Athens' in the Vatican [repository, false, en]
Philosophy [cited, false, en] |
| worktype |
copies (derivative objects); reproductions; replicas; paintings (visual works); oil
paintings (visual works)
|
|
|
|
| image courtesy Victoria & Albert Museum |
|
