Burying Pope Ludovisi. The Funereal Apparato of Gregory XV in the Political Context of the Rome of the Barberini

Abstract

This article analyses the funeral ceremony held in 1624 on the occasion of the first anniversary of the death of Pope Gregory XV in the cathedral of Bologna. The ceremony and the allegorical apparato displayed in the church were promoted by Cardinal-nephew Ludovico Ludovisi, nephew of the late pope and one of the greatest art collectors of his time. This ephemeral apparato, with a sensitive and emotive strategy, focused on exalting the virtues and work carried out by the pontiff and also on trying to promote the imagen of the cardinal in the circles of power in the Rome of Urban VIII. In doing so, the cardinal wanted to establish a visual marker of his uncle’s cultural memory, creating an artistic project of great material splendour, an authentic example of the Baroque rhetoric of the time. The article reconstructs the iconographic programme of the funeral apparato, understood as an instrument of propaganda, relating it to contemporary literary and graphic sources, as well as to the atmosphere of nepotism prevailing at the papal court, in order to understand the political and religious significance of this ceremony.