Location

Country: Holy See
City: Vatican City
Place: British Embassy

Cardinal Pietro Sforza Pallavicini is known for his theological and literary works, particularly his refutation of Paolo Sarpi’s History of the Council of Trent. Sarpi’s account of the Council (1545–1563) convened to address the claims of Protestantism was held to be hostile, and Pallavicini was directed by the Pope himself to write a refutation. Pallavicini resigned his professorship of theology at the Collegium Romanum in 1651 to devote himself to the writing of this work. The first editions of his History of the Council of Trent were published in two volumes in 1656 and 1657, and a new edition in three volumes was brought out in 1664. Pallavicini’s reputation would have been well established by the time this portrait was painted in 1663. 

People

Pallavicino, Pietro Sforza

Places

Subjects

male portrait, beard, moustache, Italian, man, 17th century costume, robe, biretta, cardinal

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Roman 17th century unknown

Title

Pietro Sforza Pallavicino (1607-1667) Italian cardinal and historian

Date

1663

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 72.50 cm, width: 62.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from the British Museum, June 1946.

Inscription

tc: CARD SFORZA PALLAVICINUS 1663

Provenance

Collection of antiquary Smart Lethieullier (1701-1760); by whom presented to British Museum on 3 May 1760; from whom purchased by the Ministry of Works in 1946

GAC number

23