Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-79) was a German painter, the son of Ismael Mengs, a court painter in Dresden. From 1740, he studied in Rome and, when he returned to Germany in 1744, became a successful portraitist in Dresden. In 1748-9 he returned to Rome, married an Italian and settled there. Here he was commissioned in 1759 by Cardinal Albani to paint a ceiling fresco of Parnassus with Apollo and the Muses for his villa. In 1761-9 and 1774-7 Mengs spent time in Madrid as court painter but returned to Rome in 1776. He painted mainly full-sized pictures but also a number of miniatures and enamels. Mengs also wrote two theoretical texts, in addition to a handbook for painters – Gedanken über die Schönheit und über den Geschmack in der Malery (Thoughts on Beauty and Taste in Painting), which was published in 1762.

Mengs painted a number of full-size self-portraits from which this miniature is an offshoot. There is another miniature portrait of Mengs by Giuseppe Macpherson in the Royal Collection (RCIN 421251), based on Mengs' self-portrait in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. Mengs had two sisters, Teresa and Juliana, who were both talented miniaturists, but it is thought that this miniature is by Mengs himself.