Workshop of Giovanni Paolo Panini

Possibly commissioned by Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico (1724-1799) after 1743;

Ludovico Rezzonico (1726-1786), Palazzo Rezzonico, Venice, by 1786;

Conte Lionello Hierschel de Minerbi (1873-1937), Palazzo Rezzonico, by 1929;

Private collection, Rome, by 1977;

Art market, Rome, by 1978 (the above two lines of provenance according to a note in the Zeri photo Archive);

With Chaucer Fine Arts, London, by 2003.

Stato attivo e passivo dell’eredità del fu K.R. e Proc.r Ludovico Rezzonico. Inventario delli quadri, 2 January 1786, Archivio di Stato di Venezia. Giudici di Petizion. Inventarj B.481/7, E. Noè, 'Rezzonicorum cineres. Ricerche sulla collezione Rezzonico', in Rivista dell'Istituto nazionale di archeologia e storia dell'arte, 3, 1980, p. 257 (as hanging in 'secondo Portico ove abita il Fabis’);

V. Moschini, 'Un'Opera Inedita di Gian Paolo Panini', in Bollettino d'Arte, VIII, April 1929, pp. 460-64, reproduced fig. 1 (as Giovanni Paolo Panini);

S. Fermi, 'Fortune e infortuni recenti di G. P. Pannini', in Bollettino Storico Piacentino, 1931, f. 2, p. 64 (as Giovanni Paolo Panini);

M. Labò, in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, U. Thieme, F. Becker (eds), vol. XXVI, Leipzig 1932, p. 201 (as Giovanni Paolo Panini);

L. Ozzola, Nuove aggiunte al Panini, Piacenza 1940, p. 125;

E. Zocca, La Basilica dei S.S. Apostoli in Roma, Rome 1959, p. 64, reproduced fig. 19 (as Giovanni Paolo Panini);

F. Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini, Piacenza 1961, pp. 174-75;

M. Natale, in Collezioni civiche di Como: proposte, scoperte restauri, Como 1981, p. 98;

F. Arisi, Giovanni Paolo Panini, 1691-1765, exh. cat., Milan 1993, p. 160;

F. Mattiti, 'La cerimonia di consacrazione del Cardinal Rezzonico nella chiesa dei Santi Apostoli', in Strenna dei Romanisti, April 1997, pp. 327-42;

F. Mattiti, La Festa a Roma, exh. cat., Rome 1997, cat. no. A27, reproduced p. 222;

D. R. Marshall, ‘G. P. Panini, “The Consecration of Monsignor Giuseppe Pozzobonelli as Archibishop of Milan in the Church of SS. Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso”, Como, Museo Civico’, in The Triumph of the Baroque: Architecture in Europe 1600-1750, H. Millon (ed.), exh. cat., Milan 1999, p. 595.

On 19 March 1743 Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, who in 1758 became Pope Clement XIII, was consecrated Cardinal of the diocese of Padua with a solemn ceremony in the church of SS. Apostoli in Rome. The depiction of this grandiose event in the present work gives an impressive insight into this elaborate ritual.

Possibly commissioned by Carlo Rezzonico himself, the work is mentioned in the inventories of his nephew Ludovico Rezzonico at the time of his death in 1786 (‘Un Quadro grande con soaza dorata rappresenta la consacrazione dell’Emin.mo Rezzonico Vescovo di Padova’). It was rediscovered by Vittorio Moschini in 1929 when it was in the collection of Hirschel de Minerbi (who had acquired Palazzo Rezzonico in 1906) and published as by Panini. Arisi later recognised the composition as deriving from Panini's Consecration of Cardinal Pozzobonelli in the Church of San Carlo Al Corso,¹ now in the collection of Musei Civici di Como, for which there exist various preparatory drawings.

The church of SS. Apostoli is identifiable by its distinctive architectural features, as well as from the monumental altarpiece by Domenico Maria Muratori, The Martyrdoms of the Apostles Philip and James (1713-1717),² and the ceiling fresco by Giovanni Odazzi, The Fall of the Rebel Angels (1715).³ Mattiti, who first identified the ceremony as Rezzonico's consecration, has also carefully reconstructed the identities of some of the relevant personalities among the figures in the crowd. Pope Benedict XIV is sitting near the altar in the background, and the three bishops in the middle are Giuseppe Accoramboni, Carlo Rezzonico and Antonio Saverio Gentili. Among the spectators on the right are the two sons of James III Stuart (Charles Edward and Henry Benedict), the Patriarch of Antioch, and, possibly, a self-portrait of the painter looking out towards the viewer.

The identity of the artist who received such a major commission is still under discussion: possibly, Panini himself, who then assigned it to be executed after his drawings for the Pozzobonelli painting. The figures however appear to be by a different hand. Some derive from the Como painting, while others, such as the woman in a blue dress in the foreground, are original. Different scholars have proposed various names for the authorship of the figures, without reaching a definite conclusion. Giuliano Briganti, in a 1977 expertise report, attributed the work to Pier Leone Ghezzi (1644-1755), while Mauro Natale suggested that the figures might be by Giovanni Odazzi (1663-1731), the author of the church fresco reproduced in the painting. In 2003, Claudio Strinati proposed the name of Sebastiano Ceccarini (1702-1783).

¹ http://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/opere-arte/schede/1m020-00061/

² https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/1200143599

³ https://www.alinari.it/it/dettaglio/BGA-F-017061-0000