Antonio Canova was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists, his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the classical revival, and has been characterised as having avoided the melodramatics of the former, and the cold artificiality of the latter.
Pope Clement IX, born Giulio Rospigliosi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 20 June 1667 to his death in December 1669.
Pope Clement XIII, born Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 July 1758 to his death in February 1769. He was installed on 16 July 1758.
Pope Clement XIV, born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 May 1769 to his death in September 1774. At the time of his election, he was the only Franciscan friar in the College of Cardinals, having been a member of OFM Conventual. He is the most recent pope to take the pontifical name of "Clement" upon his election.
Pope Innocent XI, born Benedetto Odescalchi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 September 1676 until his death.
Henry Benedict Thomas Edward Maria Clement Francis Xavier Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York was a Roman Catholic cardinal, and was the fourth and final Jacobite heir to publicly claim the thrones of Great Britain and Ireland, as the younger grandson of King James II of England. One of the longest-serving cardinals in history, Henry spent his whole life in the Papal States and became the Dean of the College of Cardinals and Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri. Unlike his father James Francis Edward Stuart and elder brother Charles Edward Stuart, Henry made no effort to seize the thrones. After Charles's death in 1788, Henry became known by Jacobites as Henry IX and I, but the Papacy did not recognise Henry as the lawful ruler of Great Britain and Ireland and instead referred to him as the "Cardinal Duke of York". He was most widely known as the Duke of York, a title in the Jacobite peerage granted to him by his father.
Adalbert was elected pope of the Catholic Church in February 1101 and served for 105 days. He was a candidate of the Roman party opposed to Pope Paschal II and is regarded today as an antipope. Prior to his election he was created a cardinal by the antipope Clement III. He was captured by partisans of Paschal II and forced to live out his days as a monk.
Antonio Canova's statue The Three Graces is a Neoclassical sculpture, in marble, of the mythological three Charites, daughters of Zeus – identified on some engravings of the statue as, from left to right, Euphrosyne, Aglaea and Thalia – who were said to represent youth/beauty (Thalia), mirth (Euphrosyne), and elegance (Aglaea). The Graces presided over banquets and gatherings, to delight the guests of the gods. As such they have served as subjects for historical artists including Sandro Botticelli and Bertel Thorvaldsen. A version of the sculpture is in the Hermitage Museum, and another is owned jointly and exhibited in turn by the Victoria and Albert Museum, Scottish National Gallery while another one is in Galerie Plastik in Hořice.
Christopher Hewetson (c.1737–1798) was a neoclassical sculptor of portrait busts. Born in Ireland, he was active in Rome.
Tullio Lombardo, also known as Tullio Solari, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor. He was the brother of Antonio Lombardo and son of Pietro Lombardo. The Lombardo family worked together to sculpt famous Catholic churches and tombs. The church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo contains the Monument to Doge Pietro Mocenigo, executed with his father and brother, and the Monument to Doge Andrea Vendramin, an evocation of a Roman triumphal arch encrusted with decorative figures. Tullio also likely completed the funereal monument to Marco Cornaro in the Church of Santi Apostoli in Venice and the frieze in the Cornaro Chapel of the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. He also participated in the work to decorate Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Venice.
Andrea di Cristoforo Bregno (1418–1506) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and architect of the Early Renaissance who worked in Rome from the 1460s and died just as the High Renaissance was getting under way.
Giovanni Odazzi was an Italian painter and etcher of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome.
Bernardino Ludovisi, also called Bernardo, was an Italian sculptor.
Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni was an Italian Catholic Cardinal and Cardinal-Nephew to Pope Clement X.
Santi Dodici Apostoli, commonly known simply as Santi Apostoli, is a 6th-century Roman Catholic parish and titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy, dedicated originally to St. James and St. Philip, whose remains are kept here, and later to all Apostles. Today, the basilica is under the care of the Conventual Franciscans, whose headquarters in Rome is in the adjacent building. It is the Station church for Friday, the first week of Lent.
The Canova Lions, located in front of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., are copies of a pair of lions sculpted by Antonio Canova in 1792 for the tomb of Pope Clement XIII in St Peter's in Rome. The originals were sculpted from marble; these were cast in bronze from molds of the originals. The pieces were installed in 1860.
Marco Antonio Colonna (1523–1597) was an Italian Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal.
Giovanni Antonio Guadagni, OCD, religious name Giovanni Antonio di San Bernardo – was an Italian Discalced Carmelite and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. His rise in the ranks became rapid after his maternal uncle became Pope Clement XII. He was soon after made a cardinal and served in various positions within the Roman Curia.
Antonio Altoviti was an Italian Catholic archbishop, son of Bindo Altoviti and archbishop of Florence from 1548 to 1573.
Christopher M. S. Johns was an American art historian, and the Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Professor of History of Art at Vanderbilt University, who specialized in eighteenth-century Italian art, decorative art, material culture, and architecture. He was a leading scholar of early modern Italian art and culture, especially the relationship between art, politics, and religion in eighteenth-century Rome.
