Marble Portrait of the pope Clement XI - Rome Between 1700-1721

This beautiful carved marble medallion shows Clement XI in profile, sovereign pontiff from 1700 to 1721.
Born Albani, Gianfrancesco held the post of diplomat when, at the age of 51, the conclave turned to him. Ordained a priest the day before his election, he will lead one of the longest pontificates in the Catholic Church (21 years). An enlightened collector and patron (as Claudio Maggini brilliantly exhibited in Rome in 2018), Clement XI surrounded himself with the greatest artists of his time (Carlo Maratta, Procacini and Francesco Mancini), opened an important oriental section in the Vatican library and financed many archaeological excavations and restorations of monuments. Among those, the restorations of the rooms of Raphael in the Vatican, the work in the Pantheon, the basilica of Saint Clement, as well as the discovery of the Antonine column, which was again erected.
Our medallion here shows the characteristic features of the profile of the sovereign pontiff, marked by a plump face, a small pinched mouth with drooping corners, a long aquiline nose and short, dense curly hair. It can be compared to a medal portrait carved in Rome in ivory now kept at the V&A in London (A.57-1923) or many medals, such as the one presenting Clement XI on the reverse of the three graces, in 1707.