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Coat-of-Arms of Clement XI Albani

(1700 - 1721)

Bronze, 91 x 78 cm (354/5 x 302/3 in)

Rome, first half 18th century

Antichità Alberto Di Castro S.r.l. Socio Unico Piazza di Spagna, 5 – 00187 Roma T. +39 06 6792269 – Fax +39 06 6787410 [email protected] – www.dicastro.com

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Documented from 1464 in in service to the ducal dynasty, in all likelihood the family’s origins are to be traced back to . Orazio Albani (1576-1653) is to be credited with creating the privileged circumstances the Albani enjoyed in Roma; Justice Secretary residing at the Roman Court of Francesco Maria II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, he was charged with negotiating the annexation of the Duchy to the . For his services, he was appointed Roman Senator by Pope Urban VIII in 1633. On 13 February 1690, the titled Albani family saw Giovanni Francesco created Cardinal by Pope Alexander VIII. When elected to the Papacy on 23 November ten years later, he took the name Clement XI. Not only an erudite scholar, the new Pope also held wide-ranging cultural interests; in point of fact, at the age of only twenty, he had attracted the notice of the patroness of Roman literati, Queen Christina of Sweden, who enrolled him in her exclusive Accademia. A friend of both Bellori and Maratti, Giovanni Francesco was also a renown collector and patron of the arts. The Albani coat-of-arms is quite similar to the Chigi family crest: the former bearing three mountains, the latter six, as well as a fesse placed between the star and the mountains. Over the years, various artists applied their talents to creating exquisite coats- of-arms for Pope Clement XI. (1678-1736) provides interesting information regarding the execution of these Crests in his Proportioni pratiche per ben disegnare le Targhe de’ Pontefici (Plate A). In his treatise Raccolta di varie targhe di Roma, he points out two Papal coat-of-arms executed by Francesco Fontana (1668- 1708), son of : the first – Plate 37 – in marble and stucco mounted in the Nicchione di Belvedere, the second – Plate 39 – in stucco

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located on the Facciata interiore dei SS. Apostoli. Lastly, Juvarra, provides a fascinating drawing regarding a composition study for Pope Clement XI’s coat-of-arms (Fig. 1). Another famous instance of this particular Papal coat-of-arms is that inserted in 1711 by (1690-1753) in the fountain designed by Giacomo della Porta (1538-1602) located in front of the Pantheon; the occasion, the celebration of the relocation of the Obelisk Macuteo as decreed by Pope Clement XI (Fig. 2). Executed by Lorenzo Ottoni (1648-1736), the armorial bearings of the Pope can be seen in St. Peter’s Basilica in the South Vestibule Atrium; the vault presents gilt stucco decorations: placed centre, the crest of Pope Clement XI. (Fig. 3).

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

Fig. 3 Fig. 4

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Strong similarities are to be found between the coat-of-arms of Pope Innocent XII (Fig. 4) – executed in gilt bronze after a design by Carlo Fontana (1638-1714) and placed in 1697 in the Baptismal Chapel of St. Peter’s Basilica – and that of Pope Clement XI, topic of our study, it too executed in bronze. Moreover, it is also interesting to note that until 1714, Carlo Fontana held the post of Surveyor of St. Peter’s and the title Master of the Apostolic Palaces; an artist rightly deemed “'s most eminent architect”.

Comparative bibliography:

Raccolta di varie targhe di Roma fatte da professori primarj, disegnate ed intagliate da Filippo Juvarra architetto, Rome 1711. Plates 37, 39.

BRUNETTI, V., Gianfranco Albani, Lorenzo Ottoni e le Marche, in SIMONATO L., (edited by) Il cardinale Gianfrancesco Albani e le arti tra Roma e Urbino, Milan 2017, pp. 81-102.

CASTIGLIONI, C., Storia dei Papi, II, Turin 1957, pp. 507-509.

D’ONOFRIO, C., Gli obelischi di Roma, Rome 1965, pp. 252-53.

GUERRIERI BORSOI, M.B., La quadreria Albani a Roma al tempo di Clemente XI, Rome 2018, pp. 9-15.

PORTOGHESI, P., Roma Barocca. Storia di una civiltà architettonica, Rome 1966, pp. 343-344.

SAVETTIERI, C., in PINELLI, A., (edited by), La Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano, Modena 2000, p. 510.