Bust of Cardinal Paolo Emilio Zacchia

This sketch model in terracotta was made in preparation for a marble bust of the cardinal now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. The marble version was unfinished at Algardi’s death and the sketch model is probably one of his last works. An assistant, possibly Domenico Guidi, subsequently completed the marble.

The conviction and vivacity of the portrait is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that it is posthumous, the sitter having died nearly fifty years before. The likeness was based on painted portraits. The Cardinal, wearing a biretta (a three-cornered hat) and mozetta (a short hooded cape), is shown turning the pages of a book. This pose alludes to his written works, which included a treatise on the Immaculate Conception.