Portrait of Cardinal Melchior de Polignac

Melchior de Polignac was a French cardinal who had spent his life in diplomacy, from the peace talks at Utrecht that ended a European war in 1713 to years representing France in Rome. He was also a man of letters who wrote a long Latin poem against the ancient philosophy of Lucretius, and in Rome he searched for antique sculpture and collected it. Rosalba Carriera shows him late in that life, in the red biretta and mozzetta of his rank, the white hair and heavy face set in a calm, guarded look. A churchman and diplomat was a rarer sitter for her than the young Venetian beauties she is known for, and she meets him on his own terms, plain and grave against a dark ground. The abbot who served as Polignac's secretary came from the Le Blond family, the same French circle in Venice that kept bringing her its portraits.