Camillo Massimo

infobox cardinalbiog
name = Camillo Massimo


See =
Title =
Period =
cardinal = 22 December, 1670
Predecessor =
Successor =
post = Apostolic Nuncio to Spain ; Titular Patriarch of Jerusalem | date of birth = 1620
place of birth = Italy
date of death = 1677
place of death = Rome |

Camillo Massimo (1620 – 1677) was an Italian cardinal in 17th century Rome, best remembered as a major patron of Baroque artists such as Pouissin, Lorrain, Velazquez, Duquesnoy, Algardi, Francesco Fontana and Cosimo Fancelli.

Biography

Born as Carlo in 1620 into the prominent Massimo family, he was educated at La Sapienza University. He succeeded at age 20 to the estate of his cousin Camillo, from whom he derived his name. The elder Camillo had been the executor of the will of another great Roman collector, Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani. He started his ecclesiastical career as papal prelate at a young age and in 1651 he became cleric of the Apostolic Chamber.

On December 15, 1653 Massimo was made titular Patriarch of Jerusalem and a year later nuncio to Spain. However, Philip IV of Spain refused his appointment as nuncio, complaining he was too friendly with the French. He was forced to stop for a year in a small town between Valencia and Madrid - Roccasecca, in semi-exile, from 1658 until the end of the pontificate of Pope Clement IX in 1669.

On December 22, 1670 Pope Clement X made him Cardinal with the title of S. Maria in Domnica, which lated Massimo changed with that of Sant'Eusebio. He took part in the Papal conclave of 1676. In the same year he was opted for the title of Sant'Anastasia. He died in 1677 in at Rome.

Massimo's portraits were painted by both Diego Velázquez and Carlo Maratta. He reorganized the Roman academy of the "Umoristi". He had copies, made by Pietro Santo Bartoli, of the illustrations of an antique edition of Virgil and drawings based on the ancient paintings found in the Tomb of the Nasonii in Rome. He was also aided the eccentric former Queen Christina of Sweden with her library and collections.

ources

*cite book | first= Francis|last= Haskell| year=1993| title= Patrons and Painters: Art and Society in Baroque Italy| chapter= Chapter 6 | editor= | others=1980 | pages= p 114-119 | publisher= Yale University Press| id= | url= | authorlink=
* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1670.htm#Massimo The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church-Biographical Data]
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bmassimo.html Catholic Hierarchy Data]

Persondata
NAME=Camillo Massimo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Cardinal and patron of the arts
DATE OF BIRTH=1620
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=1677
PLACE OF DEATH=Rome