Antonin Cloche

[3] In 1696, Cloche started the process for the canonisation of Pope Pius V[4] and soon had a magnificent sarcophagus made for him in the Sistine Chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore by the sculptor Pierre Le Gros the Younger.

[5] Shortly before the death of his friend Cardinal Girolamo Casanate in 1700, Cloche set out to build a library for the substantial collection of books he was to leave to the Dominicans.

[1] He lived as a great lord, hosting many ecclesiastical dignitaries at his country house in San Pastore.

[1] In his honour, in 1721 his relief portrait by Bernardino Cametti was placed in old entrance to the Biblioteca Casanatense (now no longer part of the library and only accessible through the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva).

[5] Following Casanate's death, Le Gros was immediately commissioned to create the cardinal's tomb in the Lateran Basilica (1700–1703) and subsequently his honorary statue in the Biblioteca Casanatense (1706–1708).