Object Description
115 ALEXANDER VIII Ottoboni, Pope 1689-91 1700
Obv. Bust to left, wearing mozzetta and stole. Around, ALEXANDER . VIII . OTTHOBONVS . VENETVS . PONT . MAX *
Rev. Tomb of Alexander. At right, Cardinal Ottoboni and the architect, Carlo di San Martino. Inscribed on tomb, ALEX . VIII | PONT . MAX; around, PETRVS . CARD . OTTHOBONVS . S . R . E . VICECAN PATRVO . MAG . BENEMERENTI . POSVIT . MDCC; on listel, COM . CAROLVS . H . S . MARTIN . INVEN . ; in exergue, Ottoboni arms flanked by Sand V
Bronze, struck, 64 mm.
The tomb of Alexander VIII was commissioned by his nephew Pietro Ottoboni. Begun in 1691, it was completed in 1725 from a design by Count Carlo Enrico di San Martino. The marble statues of Religion and Prudence and relief are by Angelo de' Rossi; the bronze effigy is by Giuseppe Bertosi.
Bibl.: Houston, no. 264; Brescia 2, p. 26, nos. 333, 334; Mazio, no. 358; Venuti, p. 314, no. 21; Martinori, fasc. xvii, p. 24; Renzo N. Montini, Le Tombe dei Papi, Rome 1957, no. 242 (for the history of the tomb); Tresor Papes, pl. 37, 10.
