Carlo Maratti and the : two for churches in

by GIOVAN BATTISTA FIDANZA

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, Palestrina, about 40 kilometres east of , was the main town of an important principal- ity, which in 1630 was acquired by the Barberini family from Francesco Colonna.1 It is not widely known that Carlo Maratti (1625–1713) painted two altarpieces for churches in Palestrina. One, which has not survived, was for the high altar of S. Rosa- lia, the other for the church of the Annunciation. The first of Maratti’s biographers to mention the S. Rosalia was G.P. Bellori (1613–96), who accurately describes its subject, S. Rosalia interceding for victims of the plague in Palestrina. He also states that the painting was commissioned by Prince Maffeo Barberini (1631–85), whose palace was attached to the church of S. Rosalia, to fulfil a vow made by the town council during an outbreak of plague in 1656, when the people prayed to S. Rosalia of Palermo, known for her protection from epidemics. Bellori adds that the painting had already been moved to in Rome and replaced with a copy by Francesco Reale, whom Bellori de- scribes as a pupil of Maratti. According to Bellori, this transfer was made for reasons of conservation, above all because the can- vas was in direct contact with the rock on which the church was built.2 Regarding the date of the painting, Bellori writes only that it was executed after the epidemic. Of Maratti’s other biographers, Francesco Saverio Baldi- nucci (1663–1738), writing around 1725–30, adds no useful in- formation about the date of the altarpiece. He simply describes and praises the canvas, which he wrongly believed had been commissioned by Cardinal (1607–71).3 Lione Pascoli (1674–1744) believed that Maratti painted the altarpiece during the papacy of Alexander VII (reg.1655–67), while he was restoring an old painting in Palazzo Barberini and executing a series of paintings of the Apostles commis- sioned by the cardinal. The first of this series, St Peter, was the work of , after whose death the commission was 4 12. S. Rosalia interceding for victims of the plague in Palestrina , by Carlo Maratti. continued by Maratti. Anna Lo Bianco has demonstrated that 1668. Canvas, dimensions unknown. (Formerly Palazzo Corsini, Florence, Maratti painted the majority of these canvases – St Paul, St destroyed; photograph 1934). James the Great, St James the Less, St Bartholomew, St Matthew the Evangelist and St Simon – between 1666 and 1671,5 but a further Pascoli’s contention that the Palestrina altarpiece and the Apos- two were painted later. According to Pascoli, Maratti executed tles were carried out for the Barberini family at the same time eleven Apostles in all, but does not give a precise date for them. could refer to the group painted in 1666–71.

I would like to thank my friends and colleagues Nicoletta Marconi, Roberta Palestrina’, in idem, ed.: La chiesa di Santa Rosalia. La cappella dei principi Barberini Iacono and Luigi Cacciaglia. Thanks also to Sonja Brink, Sabina Marinetti, Agos- a Palestrina, Palestrina 2015, pp.15–17. tino Oliva, His Excellency Domenico Sigalini, Bishop of Palestrina, Fr. Ludovico 2 G.P. Bellori: Le vite de’ pittori, scultori e architetti moderni, ed. E. Borea, Turin Borzi, parish priest of the Cathedral of Palestrina, Monsignor Vito Cinti, Canon 1976, p.589. of the Cathedral of Palestrina, and Monsignor Felicetto Gabrielli. The technical 3 F.S. Baldinucci: Vite di artisti dei secoli XVII–XVIII, ed. A. Matteoli, Rome investigations were carried out by Emmebi Diagnostica Artistica of Rome: special 1975, p.298. thanks to Marco Cardinali and Maria Beatrice De Ruggieri for their valuable 4 L. Pascoli: Vite de’ pittori, scultori, ed architetti moderni, ed. A. Marabottini, Peru- advice. This research has been undertaken as part of the Smart Campus project, gia 1992, pp.204-05. supervised by the Vice-President of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Profes- 5 A. Lo Bianco: Carlo Maratti e gli ‘Apostoli’ Barberini, in L. Barroero et al., eds: sor Maurizio Talamo, to whom I express my gratitude. Maratti e l’Europa, Rome 2015, p.229. 1 R. Iacono: ‘La chiesa di Santa Rosalia. La cappella privata dei Barberini a 6 L. Cecconi: Storia di Palestrina città del prisco , Ascoli 1756, p.375. Mezzetti

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13. Annunciation, by Carlo Maratti and workshop. 1686. Canvas, 223.5 by 173 cm. 14. Ultraviolet photograph of Fig.13. (Cathedral of Palestrina).

The dating of the S. Rosalia altarpiece (the church had only to unspecified undertakings), which shows that from 15th one altar) is resolved by documents in the Barberini archive. November 1657 to February 1660 just over 4,000 scudi had It was completed in October 1668, when Rugino Cappelloni, been spent on construction.8 Work on the church’s decoration Maffeo Barberini’s accountant, paid Maratti 300 scudi for the was in progress some years before the altarpiece was commis- painting (see Appendix 1 below). Pascoli’s reference to Alexander sioned. In 1666 Maffeo paid the considerable sum of 840 scudi, VII, who died in 1667, might therefore be connected to the date 35 baiocchi to the stonemason Giovanni Battista Borsella for the altarpiece was commissioned. Unaware of this document, work inside the church, which was overseen by its architect, scholars have generally dated the painting to around 1660, Francesco Contini (1599–1669). Maffeo also paid 150 scudi to thanks to a statement by a historian of Palestrina, Leonardo a certain Giuseppe Ceccolani for marble decoration for the Cecconi, that the church of S. Rosalia was completed in that high altar.9 This suggests that the structure that would house year.6 However, Cecconi states only that the first mass was Maratti’s picture was then undergoing a complete remodel- celebrated in the church on 7th November 1660, without ling, since the previous altar was made of wood and painted in saying that its construction had been completed or, more im- chiaroscuro in 1659.10 Maratti’s canvas replaced an altarpiece portantly, that Maratti’s painting was already above the altar. by Leonardo De Sanctis, who was paid 9 scudi, 23 baiocchi for According to another historian of Palestrina, Pietrantonio it by Maffeo on 31st October 1662.11 As well as being a medio- Petrini, S. Rosalia was completed in 1677,7 but its construction cre painter, De Sanctis was an art dealer, who in 1631 counted was begun in 1657, confirmed by the earliest evidence of pay- (1603–47) among his clients.12 The need to ments connected to the building work (a final account relating provide a painting of higher quality than that by De Sanctis

was the first to propose this date: A. Mezzetti: ‘Contributi a Carlo Maratti’,Rivista Computisteria, 373, Giornale BB 1658–1660 (Principe Maffeo Barberini), fol.202r. Ac- dell’Istituto Nazionale d’Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte 4 (1955), pp.265 and 323, which cording to Gampp, op. cit. (note 6), p.352, the first payments for the construction was accepted by Borea, op. cit. (note 2), p.589, and A.C. Gampp: ‘Santa Rosalia of the church are dated February 1658. in Palestrina. Die Grablege der Barberini und das ästhetische Konzept der “Mag- 9 BAV, Archivio Barberini, Computisteria, 373/B, Giornale DD 1665–1670 nificentia”’, Römisches Jahrbuch der Bibliotheca Hertziana 29 (1994), p.357. A date of (Principe Maffeo Barberini), pp.167 and 178. between 1657 and 1660 was proposed by L. Bortolotti: ‘Carlo Maratti (Maratta)’, 10 Gampp, op. cit. (note 6), p.352, with previous bibliography. Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Rome 2007, LXIX, p.445, which was accepted by 11 BAV, Archivio Barberini, Computisteria, 366, Libro Mastro del Principe Maffeo A. Fralleoni: ‘Francesco Reali e la pala d’altare di Santa Rosalia’, in Iacono, op. cit. Barberini (1661–1664), fol.217v. (note 1), pp.31–32. The only scholar to date the painting to the year of the plague 12 On Leonardo De Sanctis, see L. Calenne: ‘La poliedrica attività del “coloraro” was P. Collura: Santa Rosalia nella storia e nell’arte, Palermo 1977, p.81. Leonardo De Sanctis all’ombra del Cardinale Federico Sforza, ed alcune novità su 7 P. Petrini: Memorie Prenestine disposte in forma di Annali, Rome 1795, p.259. Agostino Verrocchi e sull’esordio romano di Mattia e Gregorio Preti’, in M. Gal- 8 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (cited hereafter as BAV), Archivio Barberini, lo, ed.: I Cardinali e l’Arte. Rome 2013, II, pp.67–95, with previous bibliography.

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painting was moved to Rome during the papacy of Clement X (1670–76), a suggestion that is supported by new document- ary evidence. On 22nd June 1675 Reale was paid 49 scudi by Maffeo for copying three pictures, including a S. Rosalia, which is almost certainly Maratti’s Palestrina painting (the others were a portrait of an unspecified king of Spain and a small painting whose subject is unknown).18 Baldinucci states that the purported bad state of the altar- piece was only a pretext for moving it to Palazzo Barberini. In reality, he writes, a member of the family – whom he does not name – wanted to add this particularly beautiful picture to his collection in Rome.19 Baldinucci was probably right: Reale’s copy has also been in direct contact with the rock behind it, without presenting any particular conservation problems. The original painting was undoubtedly of high quality, even if to- day we can appreciate it only from a photograph taken in 1934 (Fig.12), since it was destroyed in a fire in the early 1970s in Palazzo Corsini, Florence, to which it had been moved in the 1930s for reasons of inheritance.20 Maratti brought his highly dramatic scene to life with intense and anatomically convinc- ing renditions of the nude or semi-nude plague victims in the lower part of the canvas, who are contrasted with the idealised nudity of the cherubs and the angel in the upper part. The pathos of the scene is directly connected to a view of the town of Palestrina in the background. The high significance that this subject held for Maffeo Bar- berini – and for his entire family – points to some interesting elements in the painting that also explain the relatively large sum (300 scudi) Maratti was paid for it. Since it must have been exactly the same size as Reale’s copy (264.7 by 183 cm.), it 15. Annunciation, by Robert van Audenaerd, after Carlo Maratti. 1700–10. was quite large. More significantly, the composition included Engraving, 46.1 by 33.5 cm. (British Museum, London). many figures, some of which – the nude bodies – were difficult to execute. A comparison with a painting by Maratti commis- was probably due to the fact that on 12th September 1668 the sioned when Filippo Benizi was canonised (1671) underlines high altar of S. Rosalia was declared a privileged altar by Pope the high price paid for the S. Rosalia altarpiece: although the Clement IX.13 This status was highly important, because it other painting was considerably larger (244 by 346 cm.), the allowed a soul to be released from Purgatory at every mass artist received the same sum of 300 scudi. In the and celebrated at such an altar on certain feast days or times of 1680s the price of Maratti’s paintings was to increase in pro- year. It seems likely that Maratti was commissioned to provide portion to his fame.21 a new altarpiece in anticipation of the altar’s changed status. In addition to the plague in Palestrina, S. Rosalia had an- In addition, Maffeo Barberini’s financial records suggest a other relevance for the Barberini family, as it was Urban VIII date for the copy of Maratti’s painting that was subsequently who in 1630 had added her name to the Roman martyrolo- placed over the high altar (in situ), making it possible to deduce gy.22 Maratti must thus have been strongly motivated to do his when the original was moved to Rome.14 As Bellori recounts,15 best, both in the painting’s preparatory stages and in its final the copy is by a pupil and collaborator of Maratti, Frances- execution.23 Revising the painting’s date to eight years later co Reale, also known as Francesco Pavia or Pavese, after his than has been generally accepted places it at a time when the birthplace.16 A second-rate painter, he worked for the Barber - artist was enjoying particular success. In 1668 Maratti’s master, ini on various practical tasks associated with the decoration of Andrea Sacchi, had already been dead for seven years, and the their palaces and other properties and also painted copies of other great painter active in Rome, , was paintings.17 Baldinucci leads us to understand that Maratti’s nearing the end of his career. In 1668 Maratti could have been

13 BAV, Archivio Barberini, Indice II, 3307, Palestrina. Chiese, benefizj, ed opere pie. Barocca dai registri di Sant’Andrea delle Fratte (1650–1699), Rome 2012, p.501. Chiesa di S. Rosalia. Breve di indulgenza di Papa Clemente IX nella Chiesa di S. Rosalia 17 See notes 41 and 42 below. per il giorno della commemorazione di tutti i defonti, e sua ottava, et in due giorni di ciascun 18 BAV, Archivio Barberini, Computisteria, 368, Libro Mastro del Principe Maffeo mese per sette anni, lì 12 Settembre 1668, loose sheet. Barberini (1671–1676), fol.497r. 14 A painting by Maratti depicting S. Rosalia and plague victims is recorded in 19 Baldinucci, op. cit. (note 3), p.298. two of Maffeo Barberini’s inventories: one of 1686 and another generically dated to 20 Fralleoni, op. cit. (note 6), p.32. The date the photograph was taken (1934) is after 1672. Since the iconography, size and the painter correspond, this picture can recorded in the Archive of the Gabinetto Fotografico Nazionale in Rome. I am be identified as the altarpiece from Palestrina, see M. Aronberg Lavin:Seventeenth- grateful to Elena Berardi of the Archive for her assistance. century Barberini Documents and Inventories of Art, New York 1975, pp.379 and 400. 21 R.E. Spear: ‘Rome. Setting the Stage’, in idem and Philp Sohm, eds.: Painting 15 Bellori, op. cit. (note 2), p.589. for Profit: The Economic Lives of Seventeenth-century Italian Painters, New Haven and 16 On Reale, see L. Bartoni: Le vie degli artisti. Residenze e botteghe nella Roma London 2010, pp.79 and 87–88.

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16–18. X-radiograph of Fig.13. Details.

considered the most important painter in Rome, and in 1664– details, that above the high altar – then the only altar – there 65 he held the office of President of the Accademia di S. Luca was a painting of the Annunciation.27 The report of the 1669 for the first time. Although Maffeo was not one of Maratti’s visitation – the first following Maffeo Barberini’s assumption usual Barberini patrons, his financial records reveal a previ- of the patronage – records that there was now a painted image ously unknown commission: in 1664, four years before the of the Madonna enclosed in a carved frame.28 The high altar is S. Rosalia altarpiece, he paid Maratti 42 scudi for a circular not mentioned in the 1679 report, whereas in that of 1687 there painting of an unspecified subject.24 is a reference to an ‘elegant and fine’ painting of the Annun- Maratti’s other altarpiece in Palestrina was an Annunciation ciation over an elaborate stucco altar (see Appendix 2). This for the high altar of the church of the Annunciation, which was suggests that between 1679 and 1687 the high altar had been demolished after the town’s bombardment on 22nd January completely remodelled. 1944.25 In 1663 Maffeo assumed the patronage of the church, The ‘elegant and fine’ altarpiece was Maratti’s painting, which gave him the right to nominate the parish priest.26 So, which is accurately described, with some interesting details, the church of the Annunciation became another sacred place in an inventory of the church from 1740,29 in which the high in Palestrina under the direct control of the Barberinis. In altarpiece is mentioned twice, in both cases with a reference addition to pastoral matters, the Barberini family was also to Maratti (see Appendix 3). The words of this inventory can interested in the decoration of the church, although not until be interpreted as follows: the writer uses a speculative wording some years after acquiring its patronage. The only document- (‘dicesi’) to ascribe the painting to Maratti, repeating it on both ary sources relating to the decoration are the reports of pas- occasions. The first time he adds the adverb quasi‘ ’ (not entire- toral visitations. In the 1660 report it is stated, without giving ly), to indicate that the painter had delegated some parts of it to

22 See Collura, op. cit. (note 6), p.84. famiglia Barberini sulla Parochia della SS.ma Annunziata (sec. XVIII), loose sheet, and 23 A drawing catalogued as a study for this painting is in the Metropolitan Mus- BAV, Archivio Barberini, Indice II, 3238, Palestrina. Chiese, Benefizj, ed opere pie. eum of Art, New York, see J. Bean: ‘Drawings’, Annual Report of the Trustees of the Chiesa e Parochia [sic] della SS.ma Annunziata, loose sheet. Metropolitan Museum of Art 115 (1984–85), p.26. 27 ‘Adest icona cum imaginem S.mae Annunciationis’. Archivio Storico Diocesano, Pal- 24 BAV, Archivio Barberini, Computisteria, 373/A, Giornale CC 1661–1664 (Prin- estrina (cited hereafter as ASDP), Visita pastorale della Diocesi di Palestrina, 1660, p.40. cipe Maffeo Barberini), p.653. 28 ‘Altare sub invocatione Beatissimae Annunciationis, cuius imago in eius icona depicta 25 R. Iacono: ‘La chiesa della Santissima Annunziata in Palestrina’, in A. Fiasco conspicitur cum sua coronide peropportune incisa’. ASDP, Visita pastorale della Diocesi di and R. Iacono, eds.: La Parrocchia della Santissima Annunziata nel rione degli Scacciati, Palestrina, 1669, fol.31r. Palestrina 2013, p.100. The church of the Annunciation was rebuilt in 1950. 29 In the reports of the Pastoral Visitations of 1712, 1729 and 1735 (also in the 26 BAV, Archivio Barberini, Indice II, 3233, Palestrina. Descrizione dei diritti della archive of the diocese of Palestrina) the high altar is not described.

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Barberini.31 The attribution was repeated in 1851 by Gaetano Moroni.32 Following these two brief references, the paint- ing is not mentioned again in publications on Maratti – not even among his lost works – until 2013, when Roberta Iacono claimed that the picture was destroyed in the 1944 bombard- ment.33 However, it has survived (Fig.13), although not in a perfect state of conservation and – as an ultraviolet photograph shows – it has undergone some retouching (Fig.14), which, however, does not compromise the original image. Fortunate- ly, the painting had been moved from the church to a place of safety before the bombardment, as was reported in an investi- gation carried out by the Commissione Centrale Italiana per l’Arte Sacra in 1945 (see Appendix 4). The canvas is now in the storeroom of the Cathedral of Palestrina: according to Mon- signor Vito Cinti, dean of the cathedral’s chapter, who served in the cathedral from 1939, and as its parish priest from 1944, it was taken from the church to the seminary in Palestrina before the bombardment, and from there to the cathedral’s storeroom in 1982.34 The identification of the painting as Maratti’s lost Annunciation is confirmed by an engraving made after it, dated to 1700–10 (Fig.15). It is inscribed ‘Carol. Marrattus pinx.’ (bot- tom left) and ‘R. V. Auden Aerd sculp.’ (bottom right).35 Robert van Audenaerd (1663–1743) was a pupil of Maratti as well as one of his preferred engravers.36 The style of the painting is clearly recognisable as Maratti’s. The presence of pentimenti on the left hand and the left eye of the Virgin, revealed by an X-radiograph (Figs.16–18), suggests that it is not a replica. It seems that Maratti experimented with two positions for the pupil of the eye, in the end choosing the higher one. The element of the Virgin’s face most characteris- tic of Maratti, apart from its plumpness, is the size of her eyes, to which, as the X-radiograph shows, the artist paid particular attention. It also reveals that Maratti used a cartoon, at least for the figure of the Virgin. He first tried to position the Virgin on the right of the canvas; her sketched figure is a perfect mir- 19. Virgin of the Annunciation, after Carlo Maratti. Eighteenth century. Red ror-image of the one subsequently painted on the left. chalk on white paper, 43.1 by 27.6 cm. (Museum Kunstpalast, Sammlung der Kunstakademie Düsseldorf). The discovery that a cartoon was used, together with the presence of only a few pentimenti, suggests that Maratti had the help of one or more assistants, who completed certain his workshop. The inventory states that the painting was paid sections over his underpainting without changing the design. for by Francesco Barberini the Younger (1662–1738) when he This cartoon cannot be linked to any other known Annun- was an abbot, allowing it to be dated before 13th November ciation by Maratti, none of which is the same size as the 1690, when he was elected a cardinal.30 There is no reason to Palestrina canvas: the Annunciation of 1663 for S. Antonio doubt the evidence of the inventory, drawn up only two years Abate in Anagni, for example, measures 353 by 246 cm.; the after the cardinal’s death. Annunciation in the Quirinale Palace of 1673 measures 144 Petrini (1795) was the first to record in print that this Annun- by 105 cm.37 These two paintings, although similar to the ciation was by Maratti, and that it had been paid for by the Palestrina canvas, show several differences.

30 L. Cardella: Memorie storiche de’ cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, Rome 1794, 36 For Audenaerd, see J.B. Descamps: La vie des peintres flamands, allemands et hol- VIII, pp.24–25. In Francesco Barberini the Younger’s accounts he is named as landois, 1763, IV, pp.49–53. The engraving is listed among the engravings abbot for the first time in 1680, see BAV, Archivio Barberini, Computisteria, 453, after Maratti by Le Blanc, who also records the beginning of one of its inscriptions Registro di lettere di cambio e ordini dell’Ecc.mo Signore D. Francesco Barberini. Dalli 22 (Cum privil. . .), see C. Le Blanc: Manuel de l’amateur d’estampes, Paris 1854–88, I, Settembre 1680 per tutto l’anno 1689, fol.5v. p.67, no.14. Rudolph considers that the engraving mentioned by Le Blanc relates 31 Petrini, op. cit. (note 7), p.281. to the Annunciation in Palazzo Quirinale, Rome, see S. Rudolph: ‘The Toribio 32 G. Moroni: Dizionario di erudizione storico-eccelsiastica, 1851, LI, p.27. illustrations and some considerations on engravings after Carlo Maratti’, Antologia 33 Iacono, op. cit. (note 25), p.89. di belle arti 7–8 (1978), p.202. 34 There are no catalogue entries for the painting in the Monuments and Fine Arts 37 On these two paintings, see C. Maltese: Arte nel frusinate dal secolo XII al XIX, Office of Lazio. Frosinone 1961, p.47; and L. Laureati and L. Trezzani, eds.: Pittura antica. La quad- 35 For this engraving, see its entry on the website of the British Museum, inv. reria, Milan 1993, pp.53–55. no.1874,0808.1631: www.britishmuseum.org.

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20. Annunciation, by Carlo Maratti. After 1686. Oil on copper, 67.6 by 49.5 cm. (Royal Collection Trust, London; © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017).

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A small replica in oil on copper (67.6 by 49.5 cm.) of the Pal- cost, it must have been smalt (see Appendix 5). Since there is no estrina altarpiece is in the Royal Collection, and is currently on evidence that Barberini commissioned another Annunciation, display at Hampton Court Palace, London (Fig.20). Attributed there is no doubt that this is Maratti’s painting, which measures to Maratti, the painting shows a few stylistic differences from slightly under 8 palmi in width. both the original and its engraving: in particular, the face of the Francesco Barberini the Younger often asked Reale to buy Virgin appears slightly less plump.38 In addition, two drawings pigments and canvases for paintings and curtains and to com- can be connected to the Palestrina painting because they show mission artisans to make frames and other decorative items. certain details that are not present in Maratti’s other two paint- These activities are documented on at least four occasions in ings of the subject, notably the position of the open book in the 1686 and 1687.41 On 16th November 1687 Reale was reim- Virgin’s hand. One of these drawings, attributed to Sebastiano bursed for the cost of canvases and pigments for new paintings Conca (Musée du Louvre, Paris) copies the entire composition and for wool to line existing ones. He was also paid 50 baioc - of the painting with few changes.39 The other, in the Museum chi as reimbursement for pigments and varnish bought for the Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, is a copy of the figure of the Madonna, restoration of a painting of St Roch. The document reveals probably dating from the late seventeenth century (Fig.19).40 that this last payment was the result of a request Reale had A further document throws light on the creation of the Pal- received from Maratti, who was working for Barberini.42 It is estrina Annunciation. Among Francesco Barberini the Young- highly probable, therefore, that Reale also bought the canvas er’s accounts for the years 1686 and 1687 is an undated list of and pigments for Maratti for his Annunciation in Palestrina, and payments made by Francesco Reale. Since the document is it is equally probable that Reale assisted him in its execution. bound with payment details relating to 1686, it can be dated to This is further evidence for dating the painting to 1686. In that year. It records the purchase of a large canvas of 8 palmi January 1690 Barberini asked his porters to deliver some un- (about 178 cm.) for a painting representing an Annunciation for specified gifts to Maratti, confirming the friendship between Palestrina and for the necessary pigments. Of these, only the the two men; the Annunciation in Palestrina may have helped to blue for the Virgin’s mantle is specified; given its relatively low strengthen the relationship.43

Appendix

1. Payment by Prince Maffeo Barberini’s treasurer of 300 scudi to his del Sig. Carlo Maratti a spese dell’Em. Signore Cardinale Francesco Barber- accountant, Rugino Cappelloni, who had disbursed that amount to ini Juniore, allora Abbate. [fol.17r] 2. Nell’altare la sagra imagine della SS.ma Carlo Maratti in October 1668 for having painted the altarpiece for the Vergine rappresentante il misterio della SS.ma Nunziata, che dicesi fatto dal church of S. Rosalia in Palestrina. (BAV, Archivio Barberini, Computist- Maratta, e d’avanti col suo tendino di taffetano verde con suoi cordoni. eria, 380, Registro di mandati 1662–1673 (Principe Maffeo Barberini) p.440). Signori Tomasso Baccelli e compagni nostri Depositarii si compiaceranno 4. Extract from a 1945 inventory of postwar damage to the town of pagare a Rugino Cappelloni nostro esattore scudi Trecento moneta quali Palestrina, referring to the removal of Maratti’s altarpiece from the gli facciamo pagare per suo rimborso altretanti da lui pagati a church of the Annunciation before the church was destroyed. (Archivio pittore nel mese di Ottobre prossimo passato per il prezzo d’un quadro di Segreto Vaticano, Fondo Commissione Centrale per l’arte Sacra, Archivio S. Rosolia [sic] fatto da esso per servizio della nostra chiesa in Pelestrina che generale, no.5, Palestrina, (1945), fol.9r). con ricevuta etc., lì 14 Novembre 1668. Scudi 300. SS.ma Annunziata: Furono distrutti tre quadri: dell’Angelo Custode, di Santo Stefano, dei Santi Isidoro e Gordiano. È stato salvato quello dell’altare mag- 2. Description of the high altar of the church of the Annunciation in giore raffigurante la Vergine Annunziata opera del Maratto [ sic], ma più volte Palestrina from the report of the 1687 Pastoral Visitation to the ritoccato da mano profana. È stato salvato perché rimossa dal suo posto qualche Diocese. (ASDP, Visita pastorale della Diocesi di Palestrina, 1687, fols.62v–63r). tempo prima del bombardamento. Altare in quo colitur Sanctissimum est sub invocatione eiusdem Beatae Mariae Virginis S.mae Annunciationis, cuius misterium eleganter decentique pictura 5. Expenses for Francesco Reale, paid on behalf of Monsignor Francesco in icone exprimitur; condecoratur columnis cementariis, et aliis ornamentis ex Barberini the Younger, for the purchase of canvas and pigments for an stucco approbe elaboratis. ‘Annunciation’ for Palestrina. (BAV, Archivio Barberini, Giustificazioni I, 381, Giustificazioni diverse [di Mons. Francesco Barberini] dell’anni 1686–1687, 3. Description of the church of the Annunciation in Palestrina from a 1740 fol.267r). inventory of the church. (Palestrina, Archivio Parrocchiale della Chiesa Denari spesi per servizio del Eminentissmo Signore Don Francesco Barberini della SS.ma Annunziata, Inventario, 1740, fol.8v). Patrone da me Francesco Reale. Per una tella [ sic] di palmi otto che à servito La sudetta chiesa quantunque sia stata sempre parrochiale non è stata mai con- per far una S.ma Anontiata qual servì per Pelestrina sc. 1.40. Per azuro per il sagrata, era in essa una sola cappella o altare senza però sagrestia [. . .] nel detto manto della Madona [sic] et altri colori sc. 3.50. altare fu posto un quadro rappresentante la SS.ma Nunziata dicesi quasi opera

38 Michael Levey considered the Annunciation in the Royal Collection to be a replica 205333-Annonciation-max, accessed 1st July 2017. of another work in oil on copper (37 by 28 cm.) attributed to Maratti in the Hermit- 40 (NRW), inv. no. KA (FP) 9885. See A. Sutherland Harris and E. Schaar, eds.: age Museum, St Petersburg, but this is in fact a replica of the Annunciation in Palazzo Kataloge des Kunstmuseums Düsseldorf, 1: Die Handzeichnungen von Andrea Sacchi und Quirinale: see M. Levey: The Later Italian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Carlo Maratta, Düsseldorf 1967, p.191, no.684. Queen, 2nd ed., Cambridge 1991, p.109. On the Royal Collection Annunciation, see 41 BAV, Archivio Barberini, Giustificazioni I, 381, Giustificazioni diverse di mons. also D. Shawe-Taylor, ed.: exh. cat. The First Georgians: Art and Monarchy 1714–1760, Francesco Barberini dell’anni 1686–1687, fols.177r, 280r and 400r. London (Queen’s Gallery) 2014, p.236, no.127. Mezzetti connects Audenaerd’s 42 Ibid., fol.520r. engraving to the Hermitage Annunciation, see Mezzetti, op. cit. (note 6), p.326. 43 BAV, Archivio Barberini, Giustificazioni I, 386, Giustificazioni diverse dell’anni 39 27.3 by 19.7 cm., inv. no.17843; arts-graphiques.louvre.fr/detail/oeuvres/1/ 1689 e 90 spettante monsig. ecc.mo [Francesco] Barberini, fol.404v.

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