Adonis dying in the lap of Venus. Engraving by A. Campanella after A. R. Mengs, 1778.

[Rome] : [Camillo Buti], 1778.

1 print : engraving ; platemark approximately 55 x 66.8 cm

Antonio Raphaeli Mengs Caroli III Hispan. reg. ut quondam Alexandri Magni Apelles, pictori; Graecorum summis artificibus comparando; imaginem Adonidis morientis in sinu Veneris nuper in exquiliis detectam, in aenea tabula expressam, amicus amico dulcissimo D.D.D. MDCCLXXVIII. Cum privilegio S.S.D.N. Pii VI. Eques Antonius Raphael Mengs delin. Angelus Campanella sculpsit. Bears number: II

One of eight prints dedicated to José Nicolás de Azara, which were subsequently (in 1793, 1800, 1801 and 1802) supplemented by a further four prints dedicated to the Earl of Bristol, Bishop of Derry

Hetty Joyce, 'The ancient frescoes from the Villa Negroni and their influence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries', Art bulletin, September 1983, pp. 423-440, fig. 4

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, 'Romanizing frescoes: from the Villa Negroni to Ickworth', in Roma britannica: art patronage and cultural exchange in eighteenth century Rome, Rome: British School at Rome, 2011, pp. 193-203 (on the excavation and fate of the frescoes)

Wellcome Collection 662805i

After: a wall-painting which was discovered in Rome in 1777 in the grounds of the Villa Negroni (between S. Maria Maggiore and S. Maria degli Angeli, and later called Villa Montalto), was acquired by the Earl Bishop of Derry, and subsequently perished