_Niccolò di Buonaccorso_ (Sienese: died 1388).
Of this painter, who worked and held several offices at Siena,
none of the works is traceable except this signed picture
and some fragments (also signed, and dated 1387) in a little
village church near Siena.
"Remarkable, amongst other things, for the wonderful elaboration of
the gold ornaments on the dresses, and the attempt to give an Oriental
character to the scene by the introduction of the palm-tree, the
carpet, and the dark-faced player on the kettledrums. It is interesting
also for its notes from real life in the figure of the child, the
faces of some of the spectators in the background, the window-openings
with their poles, the figures on the right under the blind, and
the flower-pot on the sill on the left" (Monkhouse: _The Italian
Pre-Raphaelites_, p. 17). For some remarks on the subject, see under
1317.
1109a. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
_A. R. Mengs_ (German: 1728-1779).
_See also_ (p. xx)
Anton Raphael Mengs, the son of a court painter at Dresden--a
post to which the boy afterwards succeeded--was taken when a
boy to Rome and set to study the works of the great masters.
He became the most celebrated representative of the Eclectic
School of painting in the eighteenth century, and played a
great part in the early days of the classic revival of that
period. In his writings, in Spanish, Italian, and German, he
elaborated his eclectic theory--the attainment of perfection by
the combination of diverse excellences, Greek designs with the
expression of Raphael, the chiaroscuro of Correggio, and the
colour of Titian. He was an intimate friend of Winckelmann,
who constantly wrote at his dictation. His work was eagerly
sought after, both at Rome and at the courts of Dresden and
Madrid, and his books enjoyed a very wide circulation.
A cartoon, executed in black chalk.