Amor, den Pfeil schleifend

1749–1751

First painter to the Elector of Saxony

Mengs became chief court painter to the Elector Frederick Augustus II on an annual salary of 1,000 thalers, which did not prevent him from spending much of his time in Rome.

1751

Daughter born: Anna Maria Mengs

1751–1754

Back in Italy: the road to directing the academy

In 1751 Mengs returned to Italy; after a brief stay in Venice and Florence he became a member in 1752 and in 1754 director of the Roman academy of painting.

late 1755

Meeting Johann Joachim Winckelmann

At the end of 1755 Mengs met the archaeologist and art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who soon became one of his closest friends and opened his eyes to a new understanding of ancient art. Winckelmann strongly shaped Mengs's views on painting: in his work Mengs turned from the fashionable Rococo to early Neoclassicism.