Paolo Giordano II Orsini (1591–1656) was an Italian

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

, Patron of arts, poet, and amateur painter.

Biography

He grew in Florence, where he attended the Medici court. On the death of his father

Virginio Orsini Gentile Virginio Orsini (c. 1434 – 8 January 1497) was an Italian condottiero and vassal of the papal throne and the Kingdom of Naples, mainly remembered as the powerful head of the Orsini family during its feud with Pope Alexander VI (Rodri ...

in 1615, he inherited the dukedom of Bracciano. In Rome in 1622 he became the second husband of the widowed Isabella Appiani (ca. 1630–1635), the last survivor of the

Appiani family The Appiani (also Appiano or d'Appiano) were an Italian noble family, originally from Al Piano or Appiano, a now disappeared toponym identified with the modern La Pieve in the ''comune'' of Ponsacco. They held the principality of Piombino from ...

He was also made a prince of the Holy Roman Empire by Ferdinand II on 18 July 1623. He lived in his castle at

Lake Bracciano Lake Bracciano ( it, Lago di Bracciano) is a lake of volcanic origin in the Italian region of Lazio, northwest of Rome. It is the second largest lake in the region (second only to Lake Bolsena) and one of the major lakes of Italy. It has a circu ...

, near Rome, where he assembled an art collection including paintings by

Tintoretto Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed wit ...

, Salvator Rosa, and Daniele da Volterra, prints by Albrecht Dürer and

Ottavio Leoni Ottavio Leoni (1578 – 1630) was an Italian painter and printmaker of the early- Baroque, active mainly in Rome. Life Ottavio Leoni (sometimes spelled 'Lioni'), draughtsman and engraver was in his day the most fashionable portraitist in Rome. ...

, sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Johann Jakob Kornmann, among others. He exchanged correspondence on the state of arts in Italy with

Christina, Queen of Sweden Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December (New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death a ...

. He died in 1656.The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Bust of Paolo Giordano II Orsini, Duke of Bracciano
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References

External links

* 1591 births 1656 deaths Dukes of Bracciano Paolo Giordano II Princes of the Holy Roman Empire 16th-century people of the Holy Roman Empire 17th-century people of the Holy Roman Empire 16th-century Italian nobility 17th-century Italian nobility {{Italy-noble-stub