Portrait of Cardinal Antonio Marcello Barberini (Florence 1569 – Rome 1646)

Oil painting on canvas

99 x 73 cm.,
In an antique frame (regilded) 111 x 87 cm.

Portrait of the cardinal and bishop Antonio Marcello Barberini, brother of Pope Urban VIII, in cardinal's dress while holding a letter with his left hand, created by a seventeenth-century Roman author. A painter who portrayed the Barberini on several occasions, both the pope and our portrait (picture 1) was Antonio Alberti (1603-1649) to whom an attributive reference could be made given the correspondences in style.

He belonged to an influential Italian noble family, originally from Barberino in Tuscany, who moved first to Florence and then to Rome, thanks to commercial activities.

The family reached the apogee of its power thanks to Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, who in 1623 was elected pope with the name of Urban VIII and who allowed the family to increase its fortune but above all its prestige. In fact, the Barberini obtained, among others, the title of "Princes of Palestrina" in 1627.

Although Antonio Marcello decided in 1591 to join the Capuchins, an order dedicated solely to a strict monastic life, immediately after his brother's election to the papal throne he was called to Rome and elevated to the rank of cardinal in the consistory of 7 October 1624.

After the death of Urban VIII, he did not fall into disgrace like his nephews Antonio and Francesco and retained the functions connected to the cardinal's dignity.

Source: https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/1200261160

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The work is sold complete with an antique wooden frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and descriptive iconographic card.

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