DW_65 Noli me tangere (Johannes XX, 17) (Mengs, Anton Raphael)

„(…) On consulting our Friends of taste about the best means of procuring something very elegant, we have been advised to apply to Mengs, now at Madrid, and said to be the greatest Painter in Europe. We have been told that he is now employed by the King of Spain, and therefore that it is difficult to get any thing from him for any private person; but as you are at the Court in a public character, an application from you might possibly prevale upon him to bestow some of his leisure upon a work of that sort which we want. We would not mean to prescribe any certain rules, or subject, to so great an artist, but if that should be a matter of indifference to him, we should be glad to have the subject of our Saviour appearing to Mary in the Garden after his Resurrection; as it is very simple in itself, would contain no more than two striking figures, and at the same time give him an opportunity of displaying his skill in Landscape, as well as in the portraits of a Man and a Women. (…)“