(Sermoneta 1521–1575 Rome)
Portrait of Pope Julius III (1487–1555),
oil on canvas, 98.5 x 88 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Finarte, Rome, 29 May 2008, lot 7 (as Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta);
where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited:
Trento, Museo Diocesano Tridentino, L’uomo del concilio. Il cardinale Giovanni Morone tra Roma e Trento nell’età di Michelangelo, 4 April - 26 July 2009, no. 50 (as Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta)

Literature:
R. Pancheri, in: L’uomo del concilio. Il cardinale Giovanni Morone tra Roma e Trento nell’età di Michelangelo, ed. by R. Pancheri/D. Primerano, exhibition catalogue, Trento 2009, pp. 264–265, no. 50 (as Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta)

The present painting shows Julius III Del Monte, elected pope in 1550, three-quarter length, giving a blessing with his right arm and holding a letter in his left hand. He sits on a chair decorated with the Del Monte coat of arms of three small mountains. The pope exhibits a folding purse (soffietto) hung from his belt, very similar to that of Paul III Farnese in his portrait by Titian, now conserved in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, from which the present picture borrows its diagonal compositional scheme. The attribute of the purse, together with the jewels and the fur-lined mozzetta of the pope, exude the liberality of Julius III, who was a great patron of works of art.

The present painting is a typical work within the mid-sixteenth century production of Girolamo Siciolante, one of the most prominent artists working at the papal court.