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| Ottavio Leoni Self-portrait 1620s etching British Museum |
Ottavio Leoni made portraits of many Roman worthies between 1615 and 1630. For posterity, Leoni memorialized the cycles of popes and cardinals as they rose and fell. Great numbers of these power-people felt a passionate commitment toward the art of their own day. They commissioned and they collected, mightily. During the 17th century these were the most sophisticated connoisseurs in Europe. And the majority were ecclesiastics.
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| Ottavio Leoni Portrait of Pope Urban VIII (Barberini) 1625 engraving British Museum |
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| Ottavio Leoni Portrait of Cardinal Francesco Barberini 1624 engraving British Museum |
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| Ottavioi Leoni Portrait of Cardinal Antonio Barberini 1625 engraving British Museum |
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| Ottavio Leoni Portrait of Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi 1628 engraving British Museum |
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| Ottavio Leoni Portrait of the painter Guercino 1623 engraving British Museum |
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| Ottavio Leoni Portrait of the painter Simon Vouet 1625 engraving British Museum |
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| Ottavio Leoni Portrait of the painter known as the Cavaliere d'Arpino 1621 engraving British Museum |
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| Ottavio Leoni Portrait of painter and author Giovanni Baglione 1620 engraving British Museum |
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| Ottavio Leoni Portrait of the painter Tommaso Salini 1625 etching British Museum |
In 2001 the Royal Academy of Arts in London mounted an exhibition called The Genius of Rome 1592-1623. The catalog was edited by Beverly Louise Brown and included an essay on Portraiture by Clovis Whitfield – "portraiture had tended not to be regarded very highly. It was considered a reproductive talent and Italian painters had a tendency either to specialize in it and not compete for history and religious commissions, or to practice it only occasionally."
Whitfield gives credit to Ottavio Leoni for encouraging a trend that would soon lead to a European explosion of portrait publishing and new careers for many fine artists as well as many hacks.
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| Ottavio Leoni Portrait of Ottavio's father, Ludovico Leoni 1625 engraving British Museum |
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| Ottavio Leoni Portrait of court buffoon Raffaello Menicucci 1625 engraving British Museum |
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| Ottavio Leoni Portrait of Galileo Galilei 1624 engraving British Museum |
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| Ottavio Leoni Four male heads 1620s etching British Museum |
I am grateful to the British Museum for making these images available.