D. Delle Fave – The Statue of Clement XI in Urbino’s Cathedral and Francesco Moratti’s works during Clement XI’s pontificate

The aim of this paper is to contextualize the Statue of Clement XI (1706-1710, Urbino Cathedral) among Francesco Moratti’s sculptures of that period, highlighting the increase in commissions from Livio Odescalchi to Clement XI. In 1701 ca commissions were made by John Cecil, the 5^th Earl of Exeter as well as others for group sculptures with Saint Francis de Sales and the Angel (1699-1701), commissioned by Giovan Domenico Transi for the Church of Santa Maria della Visitazione in Rome and Saint Francis de Sales now in the Monastery of the Visitation.

The Bust of the Cardinal Henry Noris (Rome, Biblioteca Angelica), sculpted in 1704, is characterized by the same marked realism as the statues of Clement XI of Urbino and Montecassino.

The Statue of Saint Simon (1704-1710), commissioned by Pope Albani for The Church of San Giovanni in Laterano and created from a drawing of the famous painter Carlo Maratti, can be placed in the period of full maturity of the artist. Clement XI was also the client of the two Tritons sculpted for the Fountain of the Tritons (1717-1719), the last known work of the Paduan sculptor in Rome.

The drapery in Saint Francis de Sales and in the statues of Saint Simon and Clement XI can be explained referring to seventeenth century drapery, but in these sculptures, it is ‘tempered’ by Moratti, as in the Statue of Clement XI (1708-1711) of Montecassino with its softer drapery.

Francesco Moratti, Clement XI