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Camillo Astalli
Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez) Spanish
Not on view
A distant relative by marriage to Pope Innocent X, Camillo Astalli was made a prince of the church on September 19, 1650, and assumed the name Cardinal Pamphili. Here, Velázquez conveys a sense of the momentary and unfixed. The listing biretta atop the cardinal's head adds to the instability of the fleeting pose, as would have the original off-center placement of the sitter. This baroque exuberance was tempered when, in a later period, the canvas was cut down on the left and bottom to align the cardinal with the central axis of the painting.
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