Pope Alexander VI

Alexander VI, of the Spanish Borgia clan, was Pope from 1492 to 1503. The sheer weightiness of this colossal bust conveys an impression of the prelate’s ruthless quest for dynastic power. Its representative function is expressed through the frontal orientation of the head and the papal regalia. The raised ornamentation of the surplice and the papal tiara have been sculpted with great care, but their splendour and solidity are drowned out by the naturalistic shaping of the massive face, with its palpable individuality. The bust, acquired in Berlin and damaged in May 1945, is characteristic of Roman sculpture at the dawn of the High Renaissance.