ABSTRACT
When Pope Clement X (r. 1670–1676), was elected to the papal throne, his adopted nephews turned to leading painter Carlo Maratti to immortalize their climb to power. This chapter examines how the iconographic program of Maratti’s classicizing Triumph of Clemency (1674) in Palazzo Altieri, devised by Gian Pietro Bellori, is rooted in contemporary political theory, particularly the writings of Giovanni Botero. The fresco presents cardinal nephew Paluzzo Altieri as Prudence, a defining virtue of a good prince in early modern political writing. Paired with the secular nephew as Fortitude, the fresco presents the cardinal nephew as the embodiment of papal reputation. Clement X’s adoption of a cardinal nephew, and the contradictions in the practice of nepotism that choice exposed, inspired an authoritative visual defence of nepotism as good papal governance.
