This self portrait by German painter Therese Concordia Maron (née Mengs) is set against a soft gray-green background. She turns slightly right yet meets our gaze with full pink lips closed and cheeks rosy. A sheer bright white bonnet with crisp ruffled edge and faint floral pattern frames her head and ties under the chin in a wide, powder-blue bow. A gauzy white shawl is wrapped over a warm brown dress, opening in a shallow V at the chest. Light from the left models smooth pale skin and catches the bonnet’s texture as shadows fall gently. The mood is calm, direct, and intimate.
Mengs (1725–1806) was born into an artistic family in Dresden, the older sister of celebrated neoclassical painter Anton Raphael Mengs. Trained by their father, Ismael Mengs, she was one of the few European women in the mid-18th century to build a professional career as a painter in a field dominated by men.
At the time she created this self-portrait, likely in the 1740s when she was just 19 or 20, Dresden was a flourishing cultural center under the Elector of Saxony, where court patronage and cosmopolitan artistic exchange shaped her development. In the portrait, she presents herself with quiet confidence, framed by a soft bonnet and delicate blue bow, suggesting refinement and self-awareness, but also a sense of artistic independence. Like her younger brother, she excelled in pastel portraiture, mastering subtle modeling of flesh and fabric, a skill that aligned with Enlightenment ideals of clarity and naturalism.
Her career moved between Dresden and Rome, where she connected with intellectual and artistic circles that included Winckelmann and leading antiquarians. Though she never reached her brother’s renown, Therese Concordia’s work was respected, and her portraits circulated among patrons who valued her sensitive depictions. By painting herself with dignity and artistic poise, she reminds us of the resilience and talent of women who pursued professional artistry in a restrictive age.
Selbstbildnis (Self-portrait) by Therese Concordia Mengs (German) - Pastel on blue paper over canvas / c. 1744-1745 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Germany) #WomenInArt #WomensArt #WomanArtist #artText #art #artwork #ThereseConcordiaMengs #ThereseMaron #Mengs #StaatlicheKunstsammlungenDresden
