album;
drawing
- Museum number
- 1871,0812.1004
- Description
-
Caricature of Monsignor Belardini; head and shoulders, seen in profile, facing left; wearing a skull-cap; with an aquiline nose, his mouth half-open. 1740
Black chalk
- Production date
- 1740
- Dimensions
-
Height: 188 millimetres (sheet)
-
Width: 125 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- See curatorial comment for 1871,0812.818.
The inscription reads: ‘Monsignor Belardini, brother of the Belardini Gentleman of the very Eminent Cardinal Tencin. This [Belardini] is Chamberlain of Pope Benedict XIV and he was also Chamberlain of Benedict XIII. He is also archpriest at the church of Santa Lucia at the entrance of the ‘Stufa Secca all’Orso’. Made by me Cavalier Ghezzi 12 October 1740’.
Ghezzi refers to the brother of the present sitter as a ‘Gentleman of Cardinal Tencin’ (Pierre-Paul Guérin de Tencin, 1679-1758), while in other caricatures describes him as a faithful assistant to both cardinal Francesco Acquaviva d’Aragona (1665-1725) and his nephew cardinal Troiano (1695-1747) (see 1871,0812.866 and 1871,0812.1001). It is perhaps a case of the slip of the pen.
The present sitter, another Belardini (or Belardino), is here described as papal Chamberlain for both Benedict XIII and XIV. The church referred to in the the inscription is likely Santa Lucia della Tinta, which is situated in the vicinity of Via dell’Orso and Vicolo dei Gigli d’Oro, once called ‘Vicolo della Stufa Secca delle Donne”.A ‘stufa’ was a public bath with hot vapours; the term ‘secca’ (dry), referred to an underfloor heating system; the latter (Stufa secca delle donne) was apparently the only one reserved for women (see Anna Esposito, ‘Stufe e bagni pubblici a Roma nel Rinascimento’, in Massimo Miglio (ed.), ‘Taverne, locande e stufe a Roma nel Rinascimento’, Rome 1999, pp. 83-85).
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1871
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1871,0812.1004