Anna Maria Mengs

Who was Anna Maria Mengs?

Anna Maria Mengs, or Ana Carmona, was a German artist. Born in Dresden, she was the daughter of the painter Raphael Mengs. In 1777, she married the Spanish engraver Manuel Salvador Carmona. Her works include portraits in pastel and miniature; that of her husband is in the Academy of San Fernando, to which Mengs was admitted as a member of merit on August 29, 1790. She died in Madrid in 1792.

In 1793, to mark the first anniversary of her death, the Academy of San Fernando presented an exhibition of Mengs' work. In 1800, in his Diccionario histórico de los más ilustres profesores de las Bellas Artes en España, Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez wrote of her that despite "seven births, and the care and education of her children, she did not stop painting miniatures and pastels with good taste and intelligence."