Pier Leone Ghezzi 1674-1755
The Lateran Council of 1725
1725
Oil on canvas
243.5 x 311.1 cm
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh NC
Carlo Marchionni 1702 – 1786
Sarcophagus relief depicting The Pope presiding over the Lateran Council 1725
From the Tomb of Pope Benedict XIII
White Marble
S. Maria sopra Minerva, Rome
1726 was a Jubilee Year and Benedict XIII, a Dominican, had just been elected Pontiff.
He convoked a provincial Council at the Lateran, the Lateran Council of 1725 which is what Ghezzi illustrates above
It opened on April 15 and ended on 29 May 1725
It had a very heavy agenda.
There were seven sessions
To it were invited all bishops within the Diocese of Rome as well as all abbots and others from further afield
The Council reiterated and made clear the binding force of Unigenitus. The Council called for the suppression of Jansenism and the solemn confirmation of the Bull "Unigenitus", which was declared a rule of faith demanding the fullest obedience.
The main items of reform concerned reform of the clergy.
Clergy had to wear "the uniform of the clergy" and reside within the jurisdiction where his office lay. No absenteeism was allowed
Lay dress was forbidden
There were new provisions for sermons and the distribution of benefits
The full decrees can be read here: Concilium Romanum in Sacrosancta Basilica Lateranensi celebratum anno universalis jubilaei 1725. a Benedicto papa XIII. Nunc denuo recusum regnante Sanctissimo D.N. Clemente 13 (1764)
For the life of Pope Benedict XIII, now Servant of God, and the Council of 1725 see Pastor`s History of the Popes Volume 34
In the following works we see some of the activities and dress of the clergy at this time, which as Gregory XVI once said was an age of urgent need of reform
Pier Leone Ghezzi 1674-1755
The Singing Monks (Matins)
c. 1715-1730
Oil on canvas
23" x 18”
Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University, Wisconsin
Pier Leone Ghezzi 1674-1755
Cardinal Granacci
Brown ink on off-white antique laid paper
27.4 x 18.9 cm
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Mass
Although the Harvard Art Museums identify the portrait as Cardinal Granacci, the standard list of cardinals does not list such a cardinal of that name
Pier Leone Ghezzi 1674-1755
Fra Martini Conducting the Choir in Sant' Apostoli
Brown ink over black chalk on off-white antique laid paper
44.5 x 33.8 cm
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Mass
This may be a drawing of the famous Italian musician and composer Giovanni Battista Martini, O.F.M. Conv. (1706 -1784), friend of Gluck and one of the teachers of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
A Franciscan Capuchin, he spent his whole life in Bologna where he would have known the Archbishop, Lambertini, later Pope Benedict XIV
However it is recorded that he did make several trips to Rome. In 1747, he attended a General Chapter of the Order.
In 1753, he travelled to the Basilica of the Holy Apostles in Rome to celebrate the solemn liturgy on the feast of Saints Philip and James (1 May), and the Triduum in honor of Joseph of Cupertino (6-8 May). In that year the Bolognese Pope Benedict XIV offered him the post as successor to Jommelli in the Sistine Chapel. He declined the offer due to health reasons. (Jommelli or Jomella is shown depicted below)
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Pier Leone Ghezzi 1674-1755
Caricature of Antonio Schinella Conti (1677-1749), also called l'abbé Conti of the French Mission in Rome
Pen and brown ink
4½ x 4 in. (11.2 x 10.2 cm.)
Private collection
Antonio Schinella Conti (1677 – 1749) was an Italian historian, mathematician, philosopher and physicist.
He was known as Abbé Conti and is famous for having been the intermediary, in England in 1715–16, in the Leibniz-Newton calculus controversy
Voltaire used him as the model for the character of Pococurante in Candide
Pier Leone Ghezzi 1674-1755
Caricature portraits of two ecclesiastics
(Mon.r Diedo Vescovo di Torcello e Murano.Venetiano. Padre Lombardi Veronese Gesuita alla chiesa del Novitiato)
1752
Pen and ink on paper
35.3 cm x 23.7 cm
Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London
In 1766, Matthias Oesterreich published a set of caricatures by the great master: Raccolta De Vari Disegni Dell Cavalliero Pietro Leone Ghezzi Romano È Di Giovann Battista Internari Romano E Di Alcuni Altri Maestri Incise In Rame
These are some of the works from the book:
Pier Leone Ghezzi 1674-1755
Sig Iomella, Master of the Choir in St Peters Basilica in the Vatican
Pier Leone Ghezzi 1674-1755
Fra Atanasio della Fara, The Searching Capuchin
Here are some pen portrait sketches from the collection in The British Museum
Pier Leone Ghezzi 1674-1755
Michelangelo Juvinese, Camadolese, 30th October 1749
Pen and brown ink on paper
104mm x 73 mm
The British Museum, London
Pier Leone Ghezzi 1674-1755
Caricature of a Jesuit from the Collegio Germanico in Rome, head and shoulders, facing front, turned to right: drawing from an album
1750
Pen and brown ink on paper
111 x 70 mm
The British Museum, London
Pier Leone Ghezzi 1674-1755
Portrait of Abbot Agostino Isaia, standing in an interior, seen in profile, to right, pointing towards his own framed portrait; drawing from an album.
1752
Pen and brown ink on paper
307 x 219 mm
The British Museum, London
