The Missionary's Family

In 1756, when Marco Benefial signed this canvas, Giovan Battista Quarantotti was a young Roman cleric in his early twenties, and here his family has gathered round him while he practises sacred oratory. He holds up a crucifix and points to heaven. The museum calls it an unusual family portrait, handled with a freedom the genre, firmly codified by then, rarely allowed. His relatives, in studied poses and curious exotic costumes, seem far more taken with the painter at work, or with us, than with the sermon. The signature is on the pillar at the lower right, in Latin, Knight Marcus Benefial made it, in the year of the Lord 1756. The young preacher went on to a long career in Rome. From 1809 to 1814 he was acting head of Propaganda Fide, the papal congregation that directed the Church's missions, and in 1816, in his 80s, he was made a cardinal.