Bust of a Cardinal

Bartolomeo Cavaceppi was famous across Europe as the principal restorer of ancient sculpture in Rome. (One of his early projects was the

source for the adjacent Doccia porcelain bust of Augustus.) Original works and portraits are comparatively rare in his body of work, but they

are characterized by a piercing gaze, a simplified upper lip, and the use of the modeling tool to draw texture into the clay. It is not known whether this bust was ever translated into a marble version at his enormously productive studio-factory on the Via del Babuino, which was a destination for all tourists to Rome.