This work is a rediscovered bozzetto by Stefano Pozzi for the central portion of the ceiling of the Gabinetto di toeletta in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, Rome (fig. 1). The remaining four sketches for the surrounding lunettes depicting allegories of the Four Elements are part of the Lemme collection and are currently on loan to the Palazzo Barberini, Rome.1

Fig. 1 Stefano Pozzi, The Toilet of Venus and Allegories of the Four Elements. Frescoes. Gabinetto di Toeletta, Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, Rome. We thank © Trust Doria Pamphilj for the ownership of the work and © ADP srl for the photographic credit.

The decoration of the Gabinetto is Stefano Pozzi's last recorded major commission, executed between 1767–68.2 He was also commissioned to paint the ceiling of the adjoining Sala Poussin, which he was unable to finish as he died in 1769; it was later completed by Domenico Corvi (1721–1803). This was part of a larger renovation project initiated in 1760 by Giovanni Andrea Doria Landi (1704–1765) upon his arrival in Rome, marking the shift of the family seat from Genoa to the Eternal City. A further incentive was the marriage of his son Andrea Doria Pamphilj Landi (1742–1820) to Princess Leopoldina of Savoy (1744–1807) in 1767.3

Numerous artists were employed alongside Pozzi in the decorative scheme for the palazzo, aimed at celebrating the power and grandeur of the two aristocratic families united in marriage. Specifically, the ceiling of the Gabinetto is a tribute to love, beauty, and fertility, manifestly centred around the myth of Venus. She is depicted here reclining on a cloud, admiring herself in a mirror held by a putto, with above her two doves in flight. The latter, as well as being traditional attributes associated with the goddess, are likely to allude to the marriage of the young couple. The dove is also the central motif of the Pamphilj family crest.4

1 For a discussion of the sketches from the Lemme collection see G. Michel in La Collection Lemme. Tableaux Romains des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, S. Loire (ed.), exh. cat., Paris 1998, pp. 256–59.

2 F. Rangoni, ‘Stefano Pozzi’, in La pittura italiana. Il Settecento, Milan 1990, p. 839.

3 G. Michel, A. Pacia and S. Susinno, ‘Stefano Pozzi’, in I Pittori Bergamaschi, Il Settecento, vol. IV, Bergamo 1996, p. 152.

4 Michel, Pacia and Susinno 1996, p. 153.