Anton Raphael Mengs
, German, 1728-1779
Title
Portrait of Thomas Conolly (1738-1803)Date1758
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
135 x 98 cm
Signedcentre right: Ant. Raf. M[…] Sassone
Credit LinePurchased, 1983
Object numberNGI.4458
DescriptionThomas Conolly visited Rome in the late 1750s, like so many other young gentlemen who sought to finish their education by travelling in Europe. He was only about 19 years of age when Mengs painted him. On his return to Ireland he married Lady Louisa Lennox. She was the sister of the Duchess of Leinster, who lived at Carton, Co. Kildare. The Conollys took up residence at the adjoining estate, Castletown, which had been built by Thomas's granduncle, William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons.Wearing a dark blue coat and jacket trimmed with gold braid, the young man gestures to the monumental base of the Doric columns behind him. The sculptural relief, showing three of the nine Muses, is taken from a sarcophagus that is now in the Louvre, Paris. Conolly was a pleasant young man, more given to country pursuits than to cultural studies, but it was this ability to endow his sitters with a learned elegance that made Mengs a serious rival to Pompeo Batoni as portraitist to the Grand Tourists in Rome.
March 2016
ProvenanceCommissioned by the sitter, Rome, 1758; Long Gallery, Castletown House, Co. Kildare, probably from the 1770s; by decent in the Conolly family; Lord Carew; Hon. Desmond Guiness, c. 1966; purchased, Hon. Desmond Guiness, Leixlip, 1983 Exhibition HistoryAcquisitions 1982-83, National Gallery of Ireland, 1983
Master European Paintings from the National Gallery of Ireland, Art Institute of Chicago, 6 June - 9 August 1992; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 19 September - 6 December 1992; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 13 January - 28 March 1993; IBM Gallery, New York, 27 April - 26 June 1993
La Facination de l'Antique, Musée de la Civilisation Gallo-Romaine, Lyons, 1 November 1998 - January 1999
Label TextThe German painter Mengs captured Conolly as a nineteen-year-old on his Grand Tour. He is shown posing in front of a Roman sarcophagus, the ‘Relief of the Muses’, now in the Louvre. Sporting a rich satin suit with gilt braid, the image portrays a young cultured aristocrat. In reality, Conolly displayed little interest in ancient civilisation. Unlike other Grand Tourists, he brought back no souvenirs from Rome, save this portrait. He placed it as a focal point at one end of the Long Gallery in Castletown, Co. Kildare, the grand house which he inherited and greatly improved.