Gianlorenzo Bernini. 

       Monument to Pope Urban VIII

         Marble and bronze, 1628/47.


         St Peter's, Vatican City.

The Popes of Baroque Rome

This is, for right now, a quick list of the Popes from 1585 to 1689, linked to biographies of them from the Catholic Encyclopedia. I have also put in a link to the online Grove Dictionary of Art. This site is mostly FYI and so will not be much elaborated.

The Popes are listed chronologically, beginning with the name under which they ruled, their birth names and birth places, and the dates of their rule.

• Sixtus V (Felice Peretti of Ancona) 1585-1590.

• Urban VII (Giambattista Castagna of Rome) 15 to 27 September, 1590.

  Not a major Pope.

• Gregory XIV (Niccolo Spondrati) 5 December 1590 to 15 October 1591.

• Innocent IX (Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti) 29 October 1591 to 30 December 1591.

  As a Pope, not important for us.

• Clement VIII (Ippolito Aldobrandini of Fano) 1592-1605.

• Leo XI Alessandro Ottaviano de'Medici of Florence) 1-27 April, 1605.

  Not important for us as a Pope, but his life story is rather interesting.

• Paul V (Camillo Borghese of Rome/Siena) 1605-1621.

• Gregory XV (Alessandro Ludovisi of Bologna) 1621-1623

• Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini of Florence) 1623-1644.

  Perhaps the most important of our Popes, both in his religious activities and as a patron of the arts.

• Innocent X (Giambattista Pamphili of Rome) 1644-1655.

• Alexander VII (Fabio Chigi of Siena) 1655-1667.

• Clement IX (Giulio Rospigliosi of Pistoia) 1667-1669.

• Clement X (Emilio Altieri of Rome) 1670-1676.

• Innocent XI (Benedetto Odescalchi of Como) 1676-1689.

Who the Pope Is

Origins, duties, titles, powers. From the Catholic Encyclopedia.