. . . in the Pazzi conspiracy, whose posthumous portrait by Titian appears above, is better known for building the Sistine Chapel. This pope, who was born in Liguria in modest circumstances as Francisco della Rovere, was an ambitious man who used nepotism to the advantage of his family. Six of the many cardinals he created were his nephews. Pope Sixtus IV wanted to expand the Papal States to the north by purchasing the lordship of Imola, a stronghold on the border between the Papal States and Tuscany.
Fearing the Pope's ambitious expansion, Lorenzo refused to provide the financing, at which point the Pazzi, a rival banking family in Florence, stepped in. As a reward, Sixtus IV granted the Pazzi a monopoly at the alum mines at Tolfa--alum being an essential mordant in dyeing in the textile trade that was central to the Florentine economy -- and he assigned to the Pazzi bank lucrative rights to manage Papal revenues.
I think this portrait might be at the Pitti Palace Museum in Florence, but I have not been able to verify that.
so interesting.
ReplyDeleteLuba Freedman, a Titian scholar, writing in 1995 said it is 'now' in the Pitti and that it came into the pItti collection [in 1631] as part of the della Rovere collection from the Ducal Palace in Urbino. Titian painted portraits of the della Roveres in the 1530s, including the portrait of the duke of Urbino Francesco Maria della Rovere (Pope Julius II's nephew)and his wife ; Titian also presumably made a copy of Raphael's famous portrait of Sixtus' nephew, Pope Julius II,(Giuliano della Rovere) and prob around the same time made the posthumous portrait of Sixtus IV most likely basing the likeness on a portrait medal. I've got one of those big fat books containing illus of 'all' the paintings from the Pitti. Of course, it's not in there. As a minor painting, one wonders if it is hanging in the Pitti, or is it in storage??
Thanks for the comment. I'll look for it the next time I go.
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