Alessandro Albani (15 October 1692 – 11 December 1779) was a Roman Catholic cardinal, but should be best remembered as a leading collector of antiquities, dealer and art patron in Rome. He supported the art historian,
Johann Joachim Winckelmann and commissioned paintings from
Anton Raphael Mengs. As a
cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
(from 1721) he furthered the interests of the governments of Austria, Savoy and Britain against those of France and Spain; he was a noted jurist and papal administrator in his earlier career. Upon his death he was the last cardinal created by Pope
Innocent XIII
Pope Innocent XIII ( la, Innocentius XIII; it, Innocenzo XIII; 13 May 1655 – 7 March 1724), born as Michelangelo dei Conti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 May 1721 to his death in March 1724. He is ...
.
Biography
Alessandro Albani was born on 15 October 1692 in
Urbino, then part of the Papal States. He was the son of Orazio Albani. His studied
jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
at the
La Sapienza
The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...
University in Rome. Early in life he also prepared for a military career. At the age of 9 years, on 26 August 1701, he was made an honorary member of the military brotherhood of justice of the
Knights of St John
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...
of
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, and in 1707, a colonel of a regiment of
dragoon
Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat w ...
s in the pontifical troops.
Alessandro was a member of the
Albani family (branch of Urbino), which originated from into the
Albani (family)
The Albani were an aristocratic Roman family from the 16th to the 19th century. They were of Albanian origin and moved from northern Albania to Italy in the late 15th century. The Albani produced many high ranking figures of the Catholic Church, ...
that had established itself there from northern
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
in the 15th century. Alessandro's father, Orazio, was the brother of
Pope Clement XI
Pope Clement XI ( la, Clemens XI; it, Clemente XI; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721.
Clement XI w ...
Albani, who convinced Alessandro to set aside his budding military career. In part, his weak eyesight, that led to blindness in his advanced age, was not propitious for a soldier, and hence Alessandro entered the clergy. After
Pope Clement XI
Pope Clement XI ( la, Clemens XI; it, Clemente XI; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721.
Clement XI w ...
's death in March 1721,
Pope Innocent XIII appointed Alessandro as a cardinal, on 16 July 1721 as
Cardinal-Deacon of ''Sant’Adriano al Foro'' - for which Alessandro required numerous special dispensations, not least because his brother,
Annibale Albani, had been made a cardinal in 1711 and still sat in the
Sacred College
The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are appoi ...
.
Albani developed into one of the most astute antiquarians of his day, an arbiter of taste in the appreciation of
Roman sculpture
The study of Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the Apollo Belvedere and Barberini Faun, are known only from Roman Imperial or Hellenistic "copies". At ...
, and "a powerful and enterprising collector of Roman antiquities and patron of the arts... He used both ancient and modern art as a form of cultural capital," Seymour Howard observed, "giving away acquisitions as favours and selling them for perpetually needed funds or when they lost efficacy for him." His first apprenticeship in this area was served under the papal antiquary and curator
Marcantonio Sabatini Marcantonio Sab tini (1637–1724), of a noble family of Bologna, was an antiquary and papal curator to Pope Clement XI and art advisor to Charles VI, a central figure among the ''cognoscenti'' in Baroque Rome. Under his supervision the pope's ...
.
He was the formal protector of Rome's artists as patron of the
Accademia di San Luca
The Accademia di San Luca (the "Academy of Saint Luke") is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its fir ...
and was a powerful advocate for his favourites. Among the works of modern artists that passed through his hands was the album of drawings by
Carlo Maratti
Carlo Maratta or Maratti (13 May 162515 December 1713) was an Italian painter, active mostly in Rome, and known principally for his classicizing paintings executed in a Late Baroque Classical manner. Although he is part of the classical tradition ...
that was sold in 1763 to
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
and is conserved in the
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world.
Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...
.
His worldly manner and his sympathy with the Hanoverian party in
Britain- (Clement kept
the Stuart pretender as his perennial guest in Rome) was exemplified by his friendship with Baron
Philipp von Stosch
Baron Philipp von Stosch (22 March 1691 – 7 November 1757) was a Prussian antiquarian who lived in Rome and Florence.
Life
Stosch was born in Küstrin (today Kostrzyn in Poland) in the Neumark region of Brandenburg. In 1709, with the bles ...
, who shared many of Alessandro Albani's interests, and his correspondence with
Sir Horace Mann, the British envoy at Florence, who caused Clement many occasions of concern. Named papal envoy, with his brother Cardinal
Carlo, to
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
to welcome King
Frederick IV of Denmark
Frederick IV (Danish: ''Frederik''; 11 October 1671 – 12 October 1730) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1699 until his death. Frederick was the son of Christian V of Denmark-Norway and his wife Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel.
Early lif ...
, he was sent in 1720 to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
in an attempt to retain Papal territorial rights in the
duchy of Parma and Piacenza
The Duchy of Parma and Piacenza ( it, Ducato di Parma e Piacenza, la, Ducatus Parmae et Placentiae), was an Italian state created in 1545 and located in northern Italy, in the current region of Emilia-Romagna.
Originally a realm of the Farnes ...
, recently awarded to
Charles de Bourbon, and to conclude the negotiations for the restitution of
Comacchio Comacchio (; egl, label= Comacchiese, Cmâc' ) is a town and ''comune'' of Emilia Romagna, Italy, in the province of Ferrara, from the provincial capital Ferrara. It was founded about two thousand years ago; across its history it was first govern ...
, in the possession of
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
troops since 1707. Sir Horace Mann, a close correspondant with Horace Walpole in England at the request of the Cardinal, arranged for John Chute of 'The Vyne' in Hampshire, who was enjoying the Grand Tour, to spy on the Jacobites, who were in Rome making their plans for an invasion of England from Scotland. Information he collected was passed to Albani and then sent to England.
His accommodating manner suited him for diplomatic tasks, such as the successful negotiations with
Vittorio Amedeo II
Victor Amadeus II (Vittorio Amedeo Francesco; 14 May 166631 October 1732) was Duke of Savoy from 1675 to 1730. He also held the titles of Prince of Piedmont, Duke of Montferrat, Marquis of Saluzzo and Count of Aosta, Moriana and Nice.
Louis XIV ...
over conflicting rights of nomination and investiture, aggravated by the acquisition by the
House of Savoy
The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...
of
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
, over which the papacy had long-standing
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
pretensions. Accords were finalised in 1727 during the papacy of
Pope Benedict XIII, for which Vittorio Amedeo thanked Cardinal Alessandro with a rich abbacy and the title of "Protector of the Kingdom". Within the Papal
Curia
Curia (Latin plural curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally likely had wider powers, they came ...
, however, the party of the ''
zelanti'' considered the accords too generous in their terms. Tensions increased with the pontificate of
Clement XII, unsympathetic to Savoia. When a new
concordat was arrived at in 1741, Alessandro Albani signed on the part of Savoia.
As a cardinal he participated in the conclaves of 1724, 1730, 1740, 1758, 1769, and 1774-1775. He announced the elections of Pope Clement XIII (1758), Pope Clement XIV (1769) and Pope Pius VI (1775). His consistent stand against French interests brought him closer to those of the Habsburgs; Cardinal Albani represented Habsburg Austria at the
Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
, from 1756 until his death. He was appointed Librarian of the Holy Roman Church on 12 August 1761.
From the time of the papacy of
Pope Clement XIV he realigned himself with the ''zelanti'' against the interference of Roman Catholic monarchs in the diplomacy that surrounded the eventual expulsion and
Suppression of the Jesuits from most Catholic Christian countries.
He died on 11 December 1779. He was buried in the Observant Franciscan Church of San Pietro in
Urbino,
Marche
Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...
, Italy.
Villa Albani
Alessandro commissioned in 1745 the construction of the prominent Villa Albani in Rome. Building began in 1751 according to
Giuseppe Vasi
Giuseppe Vasi (27 August 1710 – 16 April 1782) was an Italian engraver and architect, best known for his ''vedute''.
Biography
He was born in Corleone, Sicily and later, around 1736, moved to Rome. After a period of intense visits and studies, ...
and celebrated as complete in 1763, to house his evolving, constantly replaced and renewed collections of antiquities and ancient Roman sculpture, which soon filled the ''casino'' that faced the Villa down a series of formal
parterre
A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...
s. Albani's lifelong friend
Carlo Marchionni
Carlo Marchionni (10 February 1702 – 28 July 1786) was an Italian architect. He was also a sculptor and a virtuoso draughtsman, who mixed in the artistic and intellectual circles. He was born and died in Rome.
Biography
Marchionni's early ...
was the architect in charge, at the Villa and perhaps also for the two temples in the park, an Ionic temple of Diana and a
sham ruin. The Albani antiquities were catalogued by the Cardinal's secretary, the first professional art historian,
Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who was supported by Albani from the time when the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754†...
stranded him in Rome without his pension, and whose own connoisseurship was sharpened by the connection.
After the Napoleonic upheavals the Albani heirs sold the villa to the
Chigi, who were themselves related to the Albani and by this time had added the Albani name to their own. The Chigi eventually sold it to the
Torlonia, the Roman bankers, to whom the villa still belongs. Cardinal Albani's coins and medals went to the
Vatican Library
The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...
, over which he had presided from 1761. The
sarcophagi, columns and sculptures have been dispersed, but the famous
bas-relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
of
Antinous
Antinous, also called Antinoös, (; grc-gre, Ἀντίνοος; 27 November – before 30 October 130) was a Greek youth from Bithynia and a favourite and probable lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian. Following his premature death before his ...
remains in the villa.
Cardinal Alessandro Albani had another villa and park at
Porto d'Anzio
Anzio (, also , ) is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome.
Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands ...
, that was finished in February 1732, but was habitable for a few weeks only in spring because of
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
. Perhaps the villa and a casina in the park were by Marchionni. Excavations in the park brought to light many ancient Roman sculptures.
Roberto Piperno, "Rome art lover"
/ref>
Further reading
* Debenedetti, ed., ''Alessandro Albani, patrono delle arti ...'' = ''Studi sul Settecento Romano''; 9 (1993)
See also
* Albani (disambiguation)
Notes
External links
Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church:
Alessandro Albani
Albani, Alessandro
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albani, Alessandro
1692 births
1779 deaths
People from Urbino
18th-century Italian cardinals
Italian people of Albanian descent