Stephanie C. Leone – Restoring Rome for the Jubilee: Pope Innocent X’s Motives, Methods, and Meaning in 1650
Alessandro Algardi, Pope Saint Leo the Great and Attila the Hun, 1646–53, detail of altarpiece, Chapel of the Madonna of the Column, St. Peter’s, Rome (photograph by Stephanie C. Leone)
When Innocent X Pamphilj was elected pope in 1644, he quickly commissioned monumental works of architecture and sculpture at St. Peter’s and San Giovanni in Laterano, according to G.S. Ruggieri’s Diario dell’anno del SS.mo Giubileo 1650, “to excite greater devotion in pilgrims and foreigners…[and] reflect the piety, religion, and paternal affection of the Pope toward this Holy City, his homeland.” Ruggieri’s contemporary voice serves as a starting point to investigate Innocent X’s motivations for renovating Rome for the Jubilee, which also comprised projects at Piazza Navona and the Campidoglio. Through select examples, this paper explores why Innocent X—head of the Roman Catholic Church, protector of the Pamphilj family, and Roman citizen—chose these locations and what, specifically, he aimed to communicate to pilgrims and Romans alike. Furthermore, it argues that he accomplished so much artistic production in such little time—only five years—by harnessing the robust building and sculptural industries of Rome and employing proven and new operational strategies.
The lecture will be held in English.
Speaker
Stephanie C. Leone is Professor of Art History at Boston College. Her research focuses on the art, architecture, collecting, and patronage of early modern Italy, especially baroque Rome. She has published a monograph on the Palazzo Pamphilj in Piazza Navona and co-edited/edited books on the abbey of San Sebastiano in Alatri and the art patronage and collecting of the Pamphilj family. Most recently, she has published an article on “Cardinal Benedetto Pamphilj: Patron of the Villa del Gran Priorato, Rome (1678-1730)” (2024) and co-authored an article on “The Victory at San Pietro in Casale (1649-51) in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome,” in The Burlington Magazine (2025). Stephanie is finishing a book manuscript titled, Innocent X Pamphilj and Restoring Rome for the Holy Year of 1650, on which this lecture is based.
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