Giulio Mancini

The pope was a notable patron of the arts, and their relationship was such that, in 1628, Mancini was made an apostolic protonotary and a canon of St.

[4] Mancini's writings went unpublished until the 20th century; his Considerazioni sulla pittura (thoughts on painting), written between 1617 and 1621, remaining so until 1956.

His advice to the collector gives us insight into the contemporary art market in Rome; his notes on spotting fakes were the first indication of how sophisticated these pastiches had already become by the early 17th century.

[4] In the Considerazioni, he distinguishes four tracts of painting in his contemporary Rome: that of Caravaggio; that of Carracci; the third of Giuseppe Cesari; and the fourth of everybody else, the mannerist painter Cristoforo Roncalli for instance.

[3] In his private life, Mancini was known as a self-confessed atheist,[3] someone who moved in libertine circles,[6] an art lover and a connoisseur.