(active 1665–1727)
The Ceremony of the Possesso of Clemente XI,
oil on canvas, 150 x 180 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Rome

We are grateful to Maria Celeste Cola for confirming the attribution on the basis of on a high resolution digital photograph.

The present painting represents the ceremony of the Possesso of Clement XI, previously Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Albani, who was elected Pope on the 20th November 1700. It shows the Pope’s cavalcade, after his coronation at Saint Peter’s, which crossed the city to the basilica of Saint John in the Lateran, his episcopal seat. The processional route, known as the Via Sacra or the Via Papalis, began at Saint Peter´s and proceeded to the Castel Sant’Angelo, Via Papalis, Piazza Navona, and then the most important sites of ancient Rome, the Capitol Hill, the Forum, the Arch of Costantine, the Caelian Hill and on to the basilica of Saint John in the Lateran.

The painting shows the final stage of the procession, the arrival at the basilica, followed by the so-called introitus, the moment when the Pope is received. The present painting is a rare visual representation of the ceremony, as most documentation is written or only known from engravings.

The papal ceremony, which recalled the ancient Roman triumphal processions, was a sumptuous event in the City of Rome. Its political significance underlined the concept of sovereignty: the city was transformed with ephemeral arches made of stucco or papier maché, shops were decorated with garlands of fruits, flowers and sweets for children, porticoes of churches were covered with tapestries and works of art. The most celebrated painters, sculptors and architects were involved in the decoration of the city. The procession itself included magistrates, senators, Swiss guards, cardinals robed in red and ambassadors, accompanied by the Master of Ceremonies and the Pope riding a white horse.

There is an engraving of the same event, which bears an explanatory insciption: “Nuovo disegno dell’ordine tenuto nella solenne cavalcata dal palazzo Vaticano alla basilica Lateranense per il possesso preso da nostro signore papa Clemente XI” (see: M. Fagiolo, Corpus delle feste a Roma, vol. II Il Settecento e L’Ottocento, Roma 1997, p. 6, ill. 4).

The present painting depicts the arrival of the pope in front of the basilica of St. John in the Lateran. The pope rides a white horse and is accompanied by the whole papal court; cardinals, senators, prefects of the city, nobles, ambassadors and servants. A delegation awaits the pope in front of the entrance of the basilica where he will take possession of the papal seat. The iconographical setting is a unique and detailed representation of the historical event and it can be compared to other paintings by the same artist.

In 1702, he painted two pictures recording a mission of Cardinal Carlo Barberini to Naples, which were acquired from the Barberini Collection for the Museo di Roma (see: Bollettino dei Musei Comunali di Roma, Anno VI, 1959, p.53); one of these, showing the Cardinal’s return to the Quirinal, is signed ‘Alessandro / Piazza F. In 1710’, another important work, signed, was commissioned by Francesco Maria Ruspoli, with the gathering of the regiment Ruspoli in the Piazza Santi Apostoli (see: M. C. Cola, Palazzo Valentini a Roma. La committenza Zambeccari, Boncompagni, Bonelli tra Cinquecento e Settecento, Roma 2012, p. 149 e 151, ill. 128; M. C. Cola, Francesco Maria Ruspoli mecenate e collezionista (1672-1731), in: Cultura nell’età delle Legazioni, ed. by F. Cazzola, R. Varese, Atti del convegno di studio, Florence 2005, pp. 507-530). The atmosphere, figures and colours are comparable, with the same attention to detail and historical accuracy.

Alessandro Piazza is recorded in Venice in 1691-1700 (see: T. Pignatti, La Fraglia dei Pittori di Venezia, in: Bollettino dei Musei Civici Veneziani, 10, 1965, pp. 16-39; p. 33; G. Nicoletti, Per la storia dell’arte: lista di nomi di artisti tolta dai libri di Tanse o Luminarie della Fraglia dei pittori, in Ateneo Veneto, November – December 1890, p. 28). One of a series of pictures concerning the life of Francesco Morosini (elected Doge in 1688; Cl. I n. 1378, Cl. I n. 1379, Cl. I n. 1380, Cl. I n. 1381, Cl. I n. 1382, Cl. I n. 1383 e Cl. I n. 1384), The Return of Francesco Morosini from the Levant (cat. Cl. I n. 1381), in the Correr Museum in Venice, is signed on a flag near the middle of the picture Ale / san / dro Pia / zza / F. A picture by Alessandro Piazza is recorded as finished in Rome soon after 1697 (see: F. H. Taylor, Carnival in Venice, in News bulletin and calendar Worcester Art Museum, vol. XXII, n. 4, 1957, p. 23).  The four views of Venice painted between 1700 and 1702 are kept today in the Worcester Art Museum (no. 1956.78, 1956.77, 1956.79, 1956.80).

Recent studies have found that, after his sojourn in Venice, the artist is documented in Rome in 1700, where he lived next to the parish of Santo Stefano del Cacco (see: R. Carloni, Parrocchia di Santo Stefano del Cacco, in: Artisti e Artigiani a Roma, II dagli Stati delle Anime del 1700, 1725, 1750, 1775, ed. by E. Debenedetti, in: Studi sul Settecento Romano, 21, Rome 2005, p. 423-425, n. 20).