(Cortona 1596–1669 Rome)
Portrait of a Prelate, seated, three-quarter length at a table, probably Antonio Montecatini, Bishop of Foligno,
oil on canvas, 108 x 84 cm, framed

Old label on the reverse: Prelato in […]cche[…] e mozzetta, e croce in petto di Pietro da Cortona/35

Label on the stretcher: Prop. B. Pandolfini/Prov. Casa Corsini/ inv. 774/Nota n. 72

Provenance:
Possibly Cardinal Neri Maria Corsini, Palazzo Corsini alla Lungara, Rome, 1750;
Prince Tommaso Corsini (1835-1919), Florence;
by inheritance to his daughter, Beatrice Corsini Pandolfini (1868-1955) (according to the label on the reverse);
European private collection

Documentation:
Archivio Corsini, Florence, Inventory Cardinal Neri Maria Corsini, 1750 (Inventario di tutti i quadri si’donati, che comprati, che si ritrovano al presente nell’Ecc.ma Casa Corsini con i nomi di quelli, da cui sono donati. Le postille e le aggiunte sono di mano di Monsignor Bottari. T.C. [Tommaso Corsini]. Fatto L’Anno 1750), Rome, Palazzo Riario alla Lungara, c. 112, n. 494 ‘Ritratto d’un Vescovo di P. da Cortona’

We are grateful to Dr. Anna Lo Bianco for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a digital photograph. We are also grateful to Dr. Francesco Petrucci for suggesting the identification of the sitter as Antonio Montecatini, Bishop of Foligno from 1642–1668, on the basis of the coat-of-arms on the chair.

The present portrait follows the compositional-type that can be seen in a number of ecclesiastical portraits from the 16th and 17th centuries. The prelate is depicted three-quarter length seated at table, wearing a rochet (rocchetto) and mozzetta, holding a letter in his left hand. However the vibrant and rapid execution is strickingly modern and creates an immediacy and liveliness to the composition. The same painterly handling, made of rapid and free brushstrokes, can be seen in the definition of the vestment and the mozzetta, and also in the sitter´s face, creating an impression of movement through out the pictorial surface.

According to an old label on the stretcher the present painting comes from the Corsini collection in Florence, and was inherited by Prince Tommaso’s daughter Beatrice, who in 1889 married Count Roberto Pandolfini. Soon after Tommaso Corsini’s death his heirs began to disperse some paintings from the collection.

The sitter has been identified by Dr. Francesco Petrucci as Antonio Montecatini, Bishop of Foligno, (Ferrara, 1599–1668 Foligno). A native of Ferrara, he was appointed bishop by Pope Urban VIII in 1642.