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| Pietro Anichini Portrait of Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588-1657) engraving ca. 1630-45 British Museum |
The finest librarian to appear in the recent history of Europe was active (very active) in Rome – during the early and middle years of the 17th century – and his name was Cassiano dal Pozzo. As late as 1993 the British Museum was able to organize the first-ever exhibition devoted to the life work of this wise and beneficent man – samplings from the enormous Paper Museum he commissioned and compiled in Rome during the 45 years between his arrival there in 1612 and his death there in 1657.
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum Etruscan Antifex representing Juno Sospita gouache (attributed to Vincenzo Leonardi) ca. 1621-46 British Museum |
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum Etruscan Antifex representing Juno Sospita gouache (attributed to Vincenzo Leonardi) ca. 1621-46 British Museum |
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum Italic bronze helmet wash drawing first half of the 17th century British Museum |
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum Cinerary Vase or Lidded Bowl in green porphyry wash drawing first half of the 17th century British Museum |
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum Greek Bell Krater from South Italy wash drawing first half of the 17th century British Museum |
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum Herm with Satyr and Zeus Ammon separated by palm-leaf column wash drawing first half of the 17th century British Museum |
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum Draped bust of 'Sappho' type wash drawing first half of the 17th century British Museum |
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum Enriched circular Statue-base or Altar wash drawing first half of the 17th century British Museum |
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum The Barberini Clock (bronze calendar clock, possibly ancient) wash drawing first half of the 17th century British Museum |
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum Roman bronze steelyard measure called 'statera' gouache (attributed to Vincenzo Leonardi) before 1648 Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum The Barberini Roma (draped statue with cult objects) gouache first half of the 17th century British Museum |
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum Portrait of Pope Urban VIII Barberini engraving by Claude Mellan 1624 Royal Collection, Windsor |
Cassiano's ambitions (and his extravagant success in fulfilling them) were directly tied to his position at the court of the Barberini during their period of Roman ascendancy following the election of Maffeo Barberini as Pope Urban VIII in 1624. The dominant papel nephew, Cardinal Francesco Barberini (1597-1679), was Cassiano's immediate patron and facilitator. As the Cardinal's librarian, Cassiano placed himself in a benignly dominating position over the cultural and intellectual life of the city. His apparent ambition was to rescue, preserve, record and understand every perceptible trace of both the vast Roman past and the living phenomenal world. Among his friends and correspondents was Galileo, whose famously disgraceful persecution at the hands the Church was orchestrated by Cassiano's patrons, the Barberini themselves. But that is another story.
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| Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum Relief fragment - Maenad with Thyrsos wash drawing first half of the 17th century British Museum |