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composition now in the Palazzo Pedralves, Barcelona, (see Pepper 1984 cat. 23 and fig. 23) which was very
likely commissioned from Reni by Sfondrato (who probably also commissioned Vanni’s works as well).

The reconstruction of Reni’s Roman portrait activity also permits us further to clarify the chronology of his
Roman years beyond what had appeared in Pepper’s book (1984 p. 55 and n. 20). Reni first came to Rome
in mid-1601 at the invitation of Cardinal Sfondrato to execute works in Santa Cecilia. He travelled to and fro
between Rome and Bologna, as he is recorded frequently in both places over the next four years. It would appear
likely, however, that he began his activity for the Aldobrandini as early as 1603, more than a year earlier than
Pepper had previously supposed. It also seems very likely that Reni was introduced to Clement and his nephew,
Pietro, by Cavaliere d’Arpino, at which time it is likely that he was commissioned to paint the pope’s portrait.

During much of 1604, Reni was in Bologna executing the mural painting for the cloister of San Michele in Bosco
.According to Malvasia (1841 p.13), d’Arpino invited Reni to return to Rome to paint The Crucifixion of Saint
Peter for the pope’s nephew whom Malvasia mistakenly identified as Scipione Borghese. In fact he was Pietro
Aldobrandini. Documents confirm that Reni indeed returned in the autumn of that year to execute the work.

Hence, we can distinguish three distinct cycles of Reni’s activity in Rome in these years. The first for, Sfondrato
1601-1602, but continuing until 1606; then for Aldobrandini, 1603-5, but continuing in 1614-16 at the Capella
del Sacramento, Ravenna, and finally for Borghese, 1605-1614, with interruptions for his return to Bologna,
1612-13. Each patron commissioned at least one portrait. Thus it was probably at this very same time that Reni
made his own portraits of Clement VIII, Cardinals Paolo Emilio Sfondrato, his first Roman patron, and Cardinal
Camillo Borghese, just prior to the latter’s elevation to the papacy as Paul V.11 This catalogue entry focuses on
a consideration of this last work. The painting first came to light when exhibited in 1985 when The Matthiesen
Gallery’s proposed an attribution to Reni that was then confirmed by Sir Denis Mahon, followed simultaneously

11 Catherine Johnston has written (Ms. communication 20 September 2016)….’in my opinion these [portraits] might well
have [been] begun prior to 1603 since three Reni coppers are already included in Agucchi’s inventory of Cardinal Pietro’s
collection that very year. The fact that in 1598 Reni made the decorations for the entry of Clem. VIII into Bologna no doubt
brought him to the attention of Pietro, Sfondrato and d’Arpino, as well as others in the papal entourage which remained
in Bologna for some(?) months before returning to Rome, hence facilitating the path for Guido (and perhaps also Albani
and Domenichino, who were likewise initially housed in the convent attached to S. Prassede) being taken up by the papal
court soon after arrival in Rome in 1601, even though the commission of a public altarpiece was only awarded by Card.
Pietro in 1604’.

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