Portrait of Clement XIII Rezzonico
by MENGS, Anton Raphael, Oil on canvas
The portrait of Clement XIII Rezzonico was painted between July and December 1758 in the months immediately after the election of Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico to the papal seat on 16 July. There is evidence that the painting was originally intended for the family’s Venetian palazzo, but that shortly after it was completed it was moved to Rome where the pope’s nephew, Cardinal Abbondio Rezzonico, lived.