Melchiorre Cafa's bust of Alexander VII

Abstract

Whenever a baroque sculpture appears in the art market, it is almost invariably given the generic name "Bernini." Only on relatively rare occasions did baroque sculptors safeguard their posthumous reputations by signing their works. For the historian such signed pieces are, of course, of immense value because the problem of authorship is settled with irrefutable finality. A short while ago the Metropolitan Museum acquired a large bronze bust of the Chigi Pope Alexander VII which an inscription on the back, cast with the bust, certifies as a work by Melchiorre Cafa. This bust has never been published before and, though it presumably comes from a branch of the Chigi family, its pedigree prior to its purchase from a New York dealer leads only to the collection of the Baron Gustave de Rothschild. The importance of the find hardly needs stressing; the new bust does not only settle a problematic chapter in the history of Roman baroque sculpture but is also a most impressive and powerful work in its own right. It is only fairly recently that the Maltese Cafa has attracted attention and that some of his works have been rediscovered and discussed.