Nationalmuseum in Stockholm acquires a very rare portrait of Cassiano dal Pozzo

The Nationalmuseum in Stockholm has acquired a portrait of Cassiano dal Pozzo (Turin, 1588 - Rome, 1657), a great and collector patron of the arts in 17th-century Rome. The red pencil drawing was made in the 1720s by an unknown artist. Only a portrait of dal Pozzo, made about a decade later, was previously known.

Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588-1657) was among the most eminent figures in the cultural life of Baroque Rome. He had a considerable interest in science and archaeology, which in the 17th century was adopting new approaches and methods to study Rome’s classical heritage. Despite his limited financial resources, Cassiano dal Pozzo was also one of Rome’s leading patrons of contemporary arts. His close friends included the astronomer Galileo Galilei and the painter Nicolas Poussin.

The portrait acquired by the Nationalmuseum was previously unknown. It is a red-pencil drawing and depicts him as a middle-aged man with a keen gaze, sparse hair, a handlebar mustache, and a goatee. The face is meticulously drawn, with short lines, dots and fine details, while the shoulders and chest area are more like sketches. The round collar of the shirt protrudes above a sort of cloak laced with a long cord. A cross is visible on the cloak, indicating that dal Pozzo belonged to theOrder of St. Stephen.

“We don’t know the identity of the artist,” says Martin Olin, director of collections at the Nationalmuseum, “but this is a vivid, high-quality drawing, even if it is a bit worn. Cassiano dal Pozzo had many artist friends and in particular was a patron of French painters living in Rome, so there are many potential candidates to consider when it comes to identifying the artist. The only portrait of Cassian known so far is a painting by Flemish artist Jan van den Hoecke.”

The portrait by van den Hoecke depicts, as mentioned, Cassian older by about a decade, but it lacks the immediacy of the drawing now acquired by the Nationalmuseum. The acquired drawing is mounted on a wooden panel, on the back of which one of its previous owners is named. In the inscription on the panel, Cassiano dal Pozzo is mistaken for his uncle, which is perhaps why the portrait was previously unknown.

Today, Cassiano dal Pozzo is best known as the founder of the “Museo Cartaceo,” a massive encyclopedic project for which the great collector commissioned thousands of drawings of virtually every known remnant of ancient Rome, including everyday objects as well as various natural objects such as shells, mushrooms, animals and plants. These drawings, now divided between the British Royal Collection and other institutions in the United Kingdom and France, are currently being catalogued in a multi-volume publication as part of an international collaborative project.

The Nationalmuseum receives no government funds with which to acquire designs, applied art, and works of art; instead, the collections are enriched through donations and gifts from private foundations and trusts. In this case, the acquisition was funded by a generous donation from Hedda and ND Qvist Memorial Fund.

Nationalmuseum in Stockholm acquires a very rare portrait of Cassiano dal Pozzo

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