Cardinal Giovanni Battista de Bonsi (1554-1621)
studio of Domenico Zampieri Domenichino (Bologna 1581 - Naples 1641)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1611 - 1616
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1447 x 978 mm (57 x 38 1/2 in)
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 608977
Caption
The sitter was a Florentine noble created cardinal in 1611 by Pope Paul V (1552-1621). He acted as an arbitrator between Francesco de’ Medici and Clement VIII (1536-1605), and arranged the marriage between Marie de’ Medici and Henri IV (1553-1610), whose chaplain he became. He was appointed Bishop of Béziers by Henri IV. This is a version of the original, in the Musée Fabre, Montpellier. The circular device with radiating arms on the back of the chair in the painting is the emblem of the Bonsi family. Curiously the coat of arms does not appear in the original. Domenichino has been described as ‘the most complete example of a 17th-century artist struggling to reconcile tradition with the demand for spectacle.’
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Cardinal Giovanni Battista de Bonsi (1554-1621), studio of Domenico Zampieri Domenichino (Bologna 1581 - Naples 1641), circa 1611. A three-quarter-length portrait, seated to the left, head facing, in robes and biretta, a small dog under his chair. He holds a letter with the address, partly obscured by his thumb: All Ill.mo et Rmo Sigre. Il Sig.re Cardle de Bonsy con la Sta [di Nostro] Sig.re. He is seated in a red velvet armchair with gold fringe. Giovanni Battista Bonsi, Cardinal de’Bonsi (1554-1621), a Florentine noble created cardinal in 1611 by Pope Paul V (1552-1621), acted as arbitrator between Francesco de’ Medici and Clement VIII (1536-1605) and arranged the marriage between Marie de’ Medici and Henri IV (1553-1610), whose chaplain he became; appointed Bishop of Béziers by Henri IV. A version of the original painting in the Musée Fabre in Montpellier.
Provenance
Attingham collection. 1913 Inventory p.63; bequeathed to the National Trust with the estate, house and contents of Attingham by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) on 15th May 1953.
Credit line
Attingham Park, The Berwick Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
67 on frame On stretcher and frame back - bottom : ATT/P/041 (in pink chalk) Top of frame back: 3 (crossed out) & 114 Left of frame back: 10
Makers and roles
studio of Domenico Zampieri Domenichino (Bologna 1581 - Naples 1641), artist
References
Spear 1982 R. E. Spear, Domenichino, New Haven and London, 1982 Pope-Hennessy 1948 J. Pope-Hennessy, The Drawings of Domenichino in the Collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle, London, 1948, p. 98, under no. 1129