Buzási Enikő szerk.: In Europe' Princely Courts, Ádám Mányoki, Actors and venues of a portraitist's career (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2003/1)

Harald Marx: "THE LUCKY STAR OF PAINTING HAS RISEN" Painting and Art Patronage in Dresden under Augustus the Strong and Augustus III

repercussions on later developments, influencing the career of Anton Raphael Mengs (1726-1779).

32 For three decades Silvestre occupied a specific position not only in the art of the town on the Elbe but also in its social life. In 1741 he was raised to noble ranks, from then on belonging to the circle whose members he depicted in his portraits. Silvestre was the son of Israel Silvestre (1621-1691), a famous copperplate engraver in France. He first studied with his father, then with Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) and Bon Boullogne (1649-1717). From 1693 to 1700 he lived in Italy, mainly in Rome. In 1702 the Académie Royale of Paris elected him a member, appointing him as assistant instructor in 1704 and instructor in 1706. From 1716 to 1748 he lived in Dresden with the title chief court painter (Ober-Hofmaler). In 1727 he was appointed director of the Academy of Painting. He was mainly interested in ceiling frescos and portraits, but he also painted religious, allegorical, and mythological compositions and representations of events. Both the quality of his works and the activity of his workshop had a great impact on painting in contemporary Saxony and Poland. In 1748 he returned to Paris where he became the director of the Académie Royale in 1752. His virtuosic style was open to inspiration and influence: in his multi-figural compositions the influence of Le Brun, Boullogne, and Antoine Coypel (1661-1722) can be discerned, while in his portraits that of Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1742) and Nicolas de Largillière (1656-1746) is apparent. "THE ARTS BURST INTO BLOOM" Court and artists under Augustus III The influence of Augustus III on art did not commence with his enthronement but much earlier, possibly when he returned to Saxony in 1719, for that year marks a change in the palette of the paintings. In addition, architecture became lighter and more elegant, turning in some sense towards neo-classicism, although the stylistic tendencies were not homogeneous. Though markedly different in character, Augustus the Strong and his son had similarly sharp eyes in spotting young talents in painting, as the chroniclers reveal. The story of Augustus III and young Mengs is well known; similar was the discovery of Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich (1712-1774) under Augustus the Strong. In 1730, at the age of eighteen, Dietrich had the fortunate opportunity of showing his talent to the ruler. He was first trained by his father, Johann Georg Dietrich (1684-1752), a court painter in Weimar. In 1724, at twelve, he became a pupil of Johann Alexander Thiele of Dresden, later adding figures to several of Thiele's landscapes.

33 Carl Heinrich von Heineken noted: "His personality was already unmistakable at a young age; he not only painted landscapes, but also composed historical pictures in the styles of various masters, depending on the commission. Count Brühl, a patron of the arts and minister to His Majesty, the king of Poland, took him in his service and provided him with the means necessary for his training and improvement. In 1734 he travelled to the Netherlands through Lower Saxony. In 1735 he was employed by the king and in 1743 His Majesty sent him to Italy, but he did not stay there long."

34 Dietrich was appointed curator of the Dresden Gallerv in 1748; in 1764 he became professor of landscape painting at the Dresden Academy and director of the Meissen Drawing School. As one of the leading masters of German Late Baroque, he copied and varied the styles of such radically different painters as Rembrandt and Watteau, while he developed his own unmistakably individual style. Johann Joachim Winckelmann labelled him "the Raphael of landscape painting now and forever."

35 The celebrated master used his virtuosity in various fields, also painting historical and gerne paintings. Anton Raphael Mengs was sixteen when he was introduced to King Augustus III in 1744, who had him paint his portrait. After this test, he ingratiated himself further with the king as Giovanni Lodovico Bianconi recalled, and by the mid-18

th century he became one of Europe's most celebrated painters.

36 His pastel portrait of Augustus III made in 1744 inspired the following lines in 1782: "This is the chef d'oeuvre of our artist. Apart from perfect similitude, one can declare that the painter painted it with affection. In this portrait he captured the features of one of the fathers of the nation, who will be the glory of this and all forthcoming centuries and all nations because he has taken the arts under his protection."

37 Heineken also reveals how the young painter grew into an admirer of the Italian Renaissance masters, who laid the groundwork for the neo-classical approach to art. Later in Rome, Mengs, one of the leading figures of art between Late Baroque and Neoclassicism, made friends with Winckelmann and became celebrated all over Europe as the master of the theory and practice of painting. He was court painter in Dresden, but he spent more time in Rome than in the Saxon capital. Not only Saxony, but also the entire German territory was proud of him. Ádám Mányoki

38 made a significant contribution chiefly to the development of portraiture in Dresden. Born in Szokolya in Hungary, Mányoki studied in Germany. He stayed at several places and lived for decades in Dresden. He was extraordinarily gifted in painting flowers, but he soon devoted himself exclusively to portraiture. From 1703 he lived in Berlin where the future Frederick William I, the "soldier king" took note of him and ordered him to paint portraits of his army officers. Christian Ludwig von Hagedorn (1713-1780) left us a detailed biography of Mányoki. He wrote: "The artist [...] gained such prominence with his portraits that Bielinski,