Bust of Pope Clement XII

Attributed to Bracci Pietro

(Rome 1700 - 1773)

The austere looking pope depicted in this bust is the Tuscan Lorenzo Corsini, who took the name Clement XII upon ascending to the papal throne. The sculptor is perhaps Pietro Bracci of Rome, or another sculptor of the same period, who portrayed his subject wearing the camauro, a finely decorated stole and a fur-hemmed mozzetta with deep folds. Clement’s expression is serious and frowning; the wrinkles of his face are sculpted with realism.

Bracci did not include the sculpture in his list of works created by him. Critics made the attribution to him in the wake of a comparison with another bust of the pope, held today at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Rome. However, recent critics have called this view into question, proposing to refer the bust to a Roman sculptor active in the same period. The portrait has been dated to the years of Clement’s pontificate, although we cannot exclude the possibility that it was executed later.

Object details

Commentary

Pope Clement XII is depicted here with his head covered by the camauro. He also wears a stole tied at the level of his chest and finely decorated with coil motifs; these include images of the papal tiara and the coat of arms of the Corsini family, with its diagonal bands crossed by a horizontal strip. He is further attired in the mozzetta, which shows fur hems and deeply sculpted folds. His face is serious and intensely expressive; the realistic rendering of the wrinkles perfectly reflects the advanced age of the pope, who was nearly 80 when he took the throne.

Born in Florence in 1652, Lorenzo became pontiff in 1730. During his ten-year rule, he set many important artistic projects in motion, including the Trevi Fountain, Palazzo della Consulta and the façades of Saint John Lateran and San Giovanni dei Fiorentini; in addition, he ordered that the Capitoline Museums be opened to the public in 1734.

Executed in an elegant late Baroque style, the work has been ascribed to Pietro Bracci (De Rinaldis 1935, p. 8; Fokker 1938, p. 350; Della Pergola 1951, p. 8; Faldi 1954, p. 43) on the basis of a comparison with another bust of Clement XII, held today at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Rome. Critics have made the attribution in spite of the fact that the sculpture does not figure in the diary kept by the artist from 1725, in which he listed all the works by him. By contrast, Riccoboni believed it to be in the manner of Bracci and not an autograph piece (1942, p. 299).

Tradition narrates that Pietro Bracci, who was born in Rome and trained as an engraver, studied philosophy and letters under the Jesuits before becoming a sculptor. Indeed he was admitted to the Accademia dell’Arcadia in 1724 with the name Gilisio Niddanio. Regarding his artistic preparation, he studied drawing under Giuseppe Chiariper and sculpture under Camillo Rusconi, the best known sculptor active in Rome during the first quarter of the 18th century (Honour 1971, pp. 620-3).

However, recent critics have again questioned the attribution to this artist, proposing to refer the bust to a Roman sculptor who was active in the same period, and whose style was close to Lorenzo Ottoni or Paolo Benaglia.

Critics generally date the work to the years of Clement’s pontificate, although we cannot exclude the possibility that it was executed after the pope’s death (Galleria Borghese, 2000, p. 76). The Bust of Pope Clement XII has formed part of the Borghese Collection since 1910, when it was donated by the Institute of the Blind of Rome (Faldi 1954, p. 43).

Sonja Felici