Cardinal Antonio Barberini, the Younger

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Cardinal Antonio Barberini, the Younger

Artist Francesco Mochi Italian, 1580-1654

Dateabout 1629

Dimensionswith base, H: 39 1/4 in. (99.7 cm)
without base, H: 32 3/4 in. (83.2 cm)

Mediummarble

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1965.176

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 36

Collections

Sculpture

Published ReferencesInventario delli Quadri e statue dell 'Eminenti.mo S.re Card.le Antonio fatto nel mese di aprile 1644, Bible,Vatican, Archivio Barberini, Indice II, Cred. V, Cas. 69, Mazz. LXXXVI, Lett. I, p. 75, made by Mochi.

Inventario dei mobili argenti, et altro trovati nella Guardarobba, e Stanza nel Palazzo ai Giubbonari della F. e M.a del s.r Cardl. Antonio Barberini, August 1672-June 1672, Bibl. Vat., Arch. Barb., Arm. 38, fol. 672, notes size: 3 1/2 palmi is 30 3/4 inches.

Inventario della Guardarobba dell'Emin.mo Sig.r Card. Carlo Barberini 1692, Bibl. Vat., Arch. Barb., Arm. 155, fol. 265 verso, nephew of Antonio.

Die Sammlung Oscar Huldschinsky, ed. Paul Cassirer and Hugo Helbring, Berlin 1928, p. 126, no. 75, repr. pl. LVIII (as a member of the Colonna family).

"The Connoisseur's Diary," The Connoisseur, vol. 158, April 1965, p. 242, repr. (the bust noted as in Colnaghi's exhibition, and of a member of the Colonna family).

Cellini, Antonia Nava, "Una Proposta ed Una Rettifica per Gian Lorenzo Bernini," Paragone, vol. 17, New Series II, no. 191, January 1966, pp. 18-29, repr. pl. 15-18 (as Cardinal Antonio Barberini the Younger).

"New Accessions, U.S.A.," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 67, no. 1165, February 1966, p. 51, repr. no. 197.

Wittkower, Rudolph, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, London, 1966, p. 194, repr. (b&w) fig. 31 (2nd edit.).

Fagiolo dell'Arco, Maurizio, Bernini, Rome, 1967, schede 48, repr. (b&w), 3rd ed., p. 194, repr. p. 275 (as not by Bernini - as perhaps Bolgi with possibly some help from Bernini on the face).

Lightbrown, R.W., "The Journey of the Bernini Bust of Charles I to England," Connoisseur, vol. 169, no. 682, repr. p. 220.

"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, New Series, vol. 12, no. 4, Winter 1969, p. 103, repr.

"Outstanding Exhibitions," Apollo, vol. 91, no. 98, April 1970, p. 316.

Lavin, Irving, "Duquesnoy's 'Nano di Crequi' and two busts by Francesco Mochi," Art Bulletin, vol. 52, no. 2, June 1970, pp. 132-149, repr. nos. 9, 10, 12, 13.

Lavin, Marilyn Aronberg, Seventeenth-Century Barberini Documents and Inventories of Art, New York, 1975, pp. 118, 334, 453, 500, 656, repr. pl. 4.

DeLuca Svaelli, Maddalena, "Le opere del Mochi" in Francesco Mochi 1580-1654, Florence, 1981, p. 77-78, repr. and detail [not in exhib.]

Spike, John T., Baroque Portraiture in Italy, Sarasota, 1984, repr. p. 206 [not in exhib.]

Gelao, Clara, "Un busto del Mochi a Gravina," Napoli Nobilissima, vol. 23, fasc. 3-4, May/Aug 1984, pp. 101, 102, fig. 12.

Wardropper, Ian, "A New Attribution to Francesco Mochi," The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Studies, vol. 17, no. 2, 1991, p. 113, fig. 11, p. 114.

Bacchi, Andrea et al., eds., Bernini and the Birth of Baroque Portrait Sculpture, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008, p. 130, fig. 2.3.1 (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 165, repr. (col.).

Straussman-Pflanzer, Eve and Blair Bailey, "The Oil Sketches of Andrea Sacchi and the Early Modern Italian Painting Process, Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, vol. 94, no. 1, The Detroit institute of Arts, 2020, p. 25, fig. 7 repr. (col.), p. 26.

Exhibition History

London, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., Ltd., Exhibition of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Sculpture, February 19-March 17, 1965, no. 2.

Label TextThough ultimately based on classical Roman portrait sculpture, this marble bust of Cardinal Antonio Barberini (1608-1671) displays the dynamism typical of Baroque sculpture. The image is enlivened by the turning head and slightly opened mouth. The silky material of the short cardinal’s cloak ripples, and the hair seems to have a life of its own. Francesco Mochi understood the important role of light in bringing his sculpture “to life,” and he masterfully creates highlights and shadows that animate the portrait. Antonio Barberini was a member of an aristocratic Roman family that accumulated power and great wealth after his uncle, Maffeo Barberini, became Pope Urban VIII in 1623. Antonio collected an extensive library and was a great patron of the arts, as was his brother, Francesco, who commissioned the painting by Pietro da Cortona in this gallery. This bust was likely made to celebrate Antonio’s elevation to the cardinalship, which his uncle the pope granted him at the very young age of 19.