Bust of Cardinal Domenico Ginnasi
Rome, Latium, Italy
Borghese Gallery
Carmelite Sisters, Palazzo Ginnasi Convent (?)
Italian State
1639
Giuliano Finelli (1602–3, Massa (Massa–Carrara)-1653, Rome)
CCLXX
Statuary marble
h: 68 cm
Carmelite Convent in Santa Maria della Vittoria
Sculpture
In 1911 the bust was found in the Carmelite Convent at the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, relocated from the Church of SS. Pietro e Marcellino, the seat of the Teresian Nuns. The nuns moved there in 1757, from the convent founded after the death of Domenico Ginnasi in Palazzo Ginnasi in 1639, and they took the bust with them, having always identified it as a portrait of the cardinal.
The work was first attributed to both Bernini and Algardi, before being linked to Giuliano Finelli following comparison with the bust the sculptor made for the cardinal for his funeral monument at S. Lucia dei Ginnasi (the decoration is based on a design by Lanfranco, whose daughter married Finelli).
The sculptor worked with Bernini on several occasions, notably on Apollo and Daphne in the Galleria Borghese and the baldachin (large sculpted bronze canopy over the altar) of Saint Peter's. He worked alone from 1629 and joined Rome's artistic circle thanks to the numerous contacts that he was able to make, notably Pietro da Cortona, who in turn introduced him to the Sacchetti family, well known patrons.
His style is characterised by attention to detail, intense skill and psychological depth, but always retaining spontaneity and immediacy, a peculiarity of Bernini's so-called “talking portrait”. The partially unbuttoned mozzetta (a short elbow length cape worn by Catholic clergy), the kindly and informal face and the realistic lines are clear evidence of this style.
In relation to this, a Bust of Cardinal Scipione Borghese made by Finelli and currently in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, was sculpted at the same time as the Bernini version (1632). In 1634 Finelli moved to Naples, where he developed a portrait style closer to Parthenopean and Spanish taste, preferring distant, official, commemorative portraits. However in the work undertaken at this time for Roman clients, he never completely abandoned his refined virtuosity and keen psychological study, as can be seen in the bust of Cardinal Ginnasi, sculpted in 1639.
A pupil of Bernini, Finelli focused his attention on the particular rather than the whole. This tendency prevented Finelli from being a great statuary artist, although it enabled him to evolve a striking flair for portraiture.
Carmelite Convent in Santa Maria della Vittoria, 1911.
Faldi, I., Galleria Borghese. Le sculture dal secolo XVI al secolo XIX, Rome, 1954, n.2, p. 10.
Santa Maria, P. L., in voce “Giuliano Finelli”, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Milan, 48, 1997, pp. 32–34.
Stefani, C., Galleria Borghese, Milan, 2000, p. 385.
Copyright image: Archivio fotografico Soprintendenza Speciale PSAE e Polo Museale della Città di Roma.
Sofia Barchiesi, Maria Assunta Sorrentino "Bust of Cardinal Domenico Ginnasi" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;it;Mus11;31;en
Prepared by: Sofia BarchiesiSofia Barchiesi
SURNAME: Barchiesi
NAME: Sofia
TITLE: Author and Researcher
CV:
Sofia Barchiesi, a graduate and specialist in Art History and recipient of a scholarship from the School of Mediaeval and Modern Art History at Lumsa University, has been working with the Superintendency for Historical Artistic Heritage and the Museums of Rome since the late 1980s. She was responsible for cataloguing the art of the region and museums of Rome, studying the period of the Counter-Reformation particularly closely. She works with journals and writes essays, alternating her research and teaching work., Maria Assunta SorrentinoMaria Assunta Sorrentino
SURNAME: Sorrentino
NAME: Maria Assunta
AFFILIATION: Borghese Gallery, Rome
TITLE: Conservation Department Co-ordinator
CV:
Maria Assunta Sorrentino, holder a of a Diploma in Painting and Fresco Restoration and a degree in the Science of Cultural Heritage (historical-artistic), has worked at the Borghese Gallery since 1993, where she manages the Conservation Department and is in charge of the technical and organisational co-ordination of temporary exhibitions. She is currently working on the Ten Great Exhibitions project underway at the Borghese Gallery. She has published several papers on conservation and history in relation to the exhibition, with particular reference to artists such as Bernini, Domenichino, Canova and Caravaggio.
Translation by: Laurence Nunny
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez
Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.
True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.
MWNF Working Number: IT1 41