Pope Innocent X by Domenico Guidi, after a model by Alessandro Algardi; bronze; Rome, Italy; cast ca.1690 (model ca.1654-66).

Bronze bust of Bust of Pope Innocent X (Giambattista Pamphili) (1574-1655; elected Pope 1644). He is wearing the mozetto (or capuccio) round his shoulders and a stole embroidered with alternate doves and fleur-de-lis in scrolls. On his head is a berrettino.

This bust was purchased in London with a matching one showing Pope Alexander VIII. Such a pairing proves that they cannot have been cast before the latter's election in 1689 and that therefore the present image must be posthumous.

On acquisition, both busts were given to Alessandro Algardi. Robinson (1862) suggested that this one was executed later by Bernini for Cardinal Ottoboni, while Fortnum (1876)ascribed the Innocent X bust to Algardi and the Alexander to the school of Bernini. The portraits are illustrated with the same attribution in the 1881 South Kensington Museum book. Subsequently, Maclagan and Longhurst (1932) assigned them to Bernini. The assocation with Algardi was largely on account of the bust's close similarity in all respects to Algardi's portraits of the Pope, notably a terracotta example in Palazzo Odescalchi, Rome. However its relationship with the bust of Alexander VIII furnishes a clue as to its actual maker, Domenico Guidi, for an inventory of 1780 another bust of Alexander was listed as by Guidi, along with an Innocent X ascribed to Algardi. In addition, a document dated 23 April 1690 (see Bershad 1970, n.??), indicates that the busts can be assigned to Domenico Guidi.

Domenico Guidi (1625-1701) trained with his uncle Giuliano Finelli in Naples before joining Algardi's workshop in Rome in 1647, where he remained active as a sculptor until his death. His major works include the Holy Family relief in the church of Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona and the Lamentation in the Cappella Monte di Pieta. After Bernini's death in 1680 and that of Ercole Ferrata six years later, Guidi had the largest and most productive studio in Rome. His patrons included Louis XIV and Queen Christina, as well as a number of Popes, Cardinal and European nobles. Guidi was one of the few sculptors of the seventeenth century to cast and finish his own bronzes.

Using the standard model of his deceased master, Guidi strengthened the zig-zagging pattern of folds and altered some details in order to approximate his own style, as manifested in the bust of Alexander VIII that is its pair.

Algardi's original bust of about 1650 provides a deeply sensitive interpretation of the man and the pontiff, his tired and irascible eyes reflecting the bitterness of his many disappointments, together with an awareness of his power and the dignity of his role. It was carved in rivalry with Bernini, the more fiery sculptor of the two, who produced two portrait busts in marble of the same pope, both now in Palazzo Doria-Pamphili, Rome. Algardi's calm and contemplative image is probably physiognomically the more accurate, as can be gauged by comparison with a third, masterly portrait of Innocent, this time in paint, by Diego Velázquez.

The bust was perhaps in the collection of Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Albani, Rome; perhaps sold from the collection of M. Magnan de la Roquette in the sale of 22 November and following days, 1841, Paris; purchased from John Webb, London in 1853.

by Domenico Guidi, after an original model by Alessandro Algardi.

This bust of Pope Innocent X is a pair to one of the later Pope, Alexander VIII Ottoboni (1610-1691; elected Pope 1689) also by Guidi; both bronze busts are in the V&A's collection. Guidi's portrait of Innocent X is ultimately based on an earlier terracotta model of 1650 by Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654), who was Guidi's master; this terracotta is now in the Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia (formerly it was in the Palazzo Odescalchi) in Rome. Guidi's terracotta version of this prototype by Algardi is in the Palazzo Doria Pamphili in Rome. Algardi's terracotta model, as well as several bronzes he had cast from that model, differ from Guidi's portrayals of the Pope, above all in the folds of the drapery, and other details of the vestments. Guidi clearly adapted his master's portrait after both Algardi's and Innocent X's deaths. He was probably commissioned to make a posthumous bronze portrait of Innocent for the then reigning Pope, Alexander VIII, to be paired with a portrait of Alexander himself, in about 1690 (the bust of Alexander is documented as being cast in April of that year). Innocent X had made the future Alexander VIII (then Pietro Ottoboni) a cardinal in 1652, and this may explain why the latter wanted his bust to be paired with that of his papal predecessor. A pair of Guidi's bronzes of Innocent X and Alexander VIII was formerly in the Ottoboni Palace in Rome; that bust of Innocent X is now lost, and only the Alexander VIII survives there.


Guidi unusually cast and finished his own bronzes, and so this was probably produced under his supervision. The high quality of its surface can be seen in the details of the vestments, such as the low relief birds and fleurs-de-lis encircled with foliate designs on the stole, as well as in the subtle representation of the facial features. This sculpture is in the tradition of monumental bronze portraits of Popes, such as the famous examples by Bernini and Algardi. The sweeping vestments and baroque naturalism, while actually rooted in classical traditions of Roman imperial busts, give these portraits immense presence and power. In addition to the likenesses of Innocent X by Algardi, this pontiff had also been portrayed in marble busts by Bernini, and in a celebrated painting by Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) of about 1650.

1088-1853