Episcopal Consecration of Giuseppe Pozzobonelli in the Church of San Carlo al Corso in Rome

Rome, 21 July 1743: Monsignor Giuseppe Pozzobonelli was about to be consecrated bishop by Pope Benedict XIV in the Basilica of San Carlo al Corso, the “national” church of the Lombards. The prelate has just entered the central nave of the church and has turned towards the faithful, raising his right hand in a sign of blessing. Waiting for him at the high altar is Pope Benedict XIV, flanked by numerous cardinals. This is the event depicted here in monumental dimensions in the painting that came into the civic collections of Como in 1955 by way of a testamentary bequest of Giulia Celesia, a distant heiress of Archbishop Pozzobonelli. As well as to the leading figures of the religious ceremony, the observer’s eye is drawn to the brilliant account of what is happening at the fringes. We are presented with all kinds of lively and colourful humanity, from humble beggars, to members of the various religious orders in their identifying garbs, through to the ranks of the nobility. The painter of the work, commissioned by Pozzobonelli,was Giovanni Paolo Panini, a great specialist in the depiction of views of Rome and of public ceremonies. (P. Vanoli)