Rethinking Carlo Maratti (1625-1713): Patronage, Practice, Reception

Carlo Maratti (1625–1713) stands as one of the most significant painters of late Baroque Rome. Celebrated in his own time as the natural heir to Raphael and Carracci, and the leading painter of the Eternal City, Maratti’s extraordinarily long and successful career linked the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, shaping academic practice, taste, and artistic institutions well beyond his lifetime. His activity as painter, restorer, collector, ‘principe’ of the Academia di San Luca, and head of a large and international workshop placed him at the centre of Rome’s artistic and cultural networks.

Despite this prominence, Maratti’s reputation in art history has long oscillated between admiration and neglect. While traditional scholarship often portrayed him as the embodiment of academic classicism or as a symbol of stylistic decline after Bernini and Cortona, more recent research has begun to reassess the complexity of his artistic persona and his impact on the European art world. Yet, major questions remain regarding his patronage, his practices, his economic strategies, his workshop organisation, and his reception.

Marking the 400th anniversary of Carlo Maratti’s birth, this international conference seeks to offer a critical reassessment of the artist and his legacy. Bringing together established scholars and emerging researchers, it provides a forum for exploring new perspectives on Maratti’s art, practice, and influence. Special emphasis is placed on the study of unpublished archival materials, newly identified documents, and analytical approaches that shed light on the dynamics of patronage, artistic production, restoration, collecting, and reception.

The conference will take place in person at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (Via Omero 10/12). Presentations will be given in English and Italian. The keynote lecture, delivered by Dr Arnold A. Witte (University of Amsterdam), will conclude the first day of the conference and can also be attended remotely via Zoom (upon registration).

Full pogram:
DAY 1 – Thursday 20 November 2025

10.15: WELCOME and OPENING REMARKS
Susanna de Beer (Deputy Director of the Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome); Lucia Ceci (Vice Chancellor for Communications and Head of the Dipartimento di Storia, Patrimonio culturale, Formazione e Società – Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata); Tullia Iori (Vice Chancellor for Education – Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata); Don Mauro Mantovani S.D.B. (Prefect of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana).
Introduction by Guendalina Serafinelli (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata), on behalf of the organizers.

11.00-12.15: SESSION 1 – BARBERINI PATRONAGE
Chair: Isabella Aurora (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana)
Giovan Battista Fidanza (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata) - Carlo Maratti and His Workshop for Cardinal Carlo Barberini: Reconstructing the Significance of a Relationship
Olga Arenga (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata) - Prince Maffeo Barberini and Carlo Maratti: New Documents in Microhistorical Perspective
Sara Carbone (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata) - Francesco Reale in the Workshop of Carlo Maratti: Professional History in the Service of the Barberini Family

13.45-15.00: SESSION 2 – TRANSREGIONAL PATRONAGE AND INSTITUTIONS
Chair: Loredana Lorizzo (Università degli Studi “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti – Pescara)
Andrea Spiriti (Università degli Studi dell’Insubria) - Maratti, the Omodei Family and the Lombard National Church of SS. Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso in Rome: Problems and Reflections
Laura Facchin (Università degli Studi dell’Insubria) - “Del signor Carlo Maratta, stimato da molti il primo che sia oggidì in quell’arte”: Reassessing the Master’s Relationship with Painting in the Savoy State
Isabella Salvagni (Independent Scholar) - Carlo Maratti e l’ Accademia di San Luca

15.20-16.00: SESSION 3 – Reception and Historiography
Chair: Donatella Livia Sparti (Syracuse University)
Guendalina Serafinelli (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata) - Niccolò Maria Pallavicini’s Ambition, the Cult of Carlo Maratti and Bellori’s Legacy
Laura Overpelt (Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome) - A Netherlandish Perspective on Carlo Maratti: Hoogewerff and Beyond

17.00: KEYNOTE (Also remotely via ZOOM, after registration)
Chair: Laura Overpelt (KNIR)
Arnold A. Witte (Universiteit van Amsterdam) - Cardinals Commissioning Carlo Maratti: Shifts in Ecclesiastical Patronage Around 1700.

Day 2 – Friday 21 November 2025

9.30-11.05 SESSION 4 - Maratti as Entrepreneur
Chair: Karin Wolfe (British School at Rome)
Alessandro Agresti (Independent Scholar) - Nell’atelier di Carlo Maratti: struttura, funzione e allestimento di una quadreria (con un inventario inedito del 1701)
Adriano Amendola (Università degli Studi di Salerno) & Cristiano Giometti (Università degli Studi di Firenze) - Per un ampliamento dei committenti: le finanze di Carlo Maratti
Paolo Coen (Università degli Studi di Teramo) - Maratti and the Art Market: New Reflections

11.25-12.40: SESSION 5 – Restauration Practices
Chair: Maria Grazia D’Amelio (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata)
Donatella Livia Sparti (Syracuse University) - The Restoration of the Loggia Farnesina Revisited (Without Bellori)
Simona Rinaldi (Università degli Studi della Tuscia) - Materiali e tecniche nei restauri pittorici di Carlo Maratti
Lotte van ter Toolen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) - From Restoring Reputations to Meddling with Memorials: Reflections on Carlo Maratti and the Pantheon

12.40-13.00 CONCLUDING REMARKS

This conference is organized by Giovan Battista Fidanza and Guendalina Serafinelli (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata) and Laura Overpelt (Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome). It is supported by the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome and the PhD Program of National Interest in Cultural Heritage at the Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, with the patronage of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

Venue: Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome, Via Omero 10/12, Rome. infoknir.it.

In-person participation is free of charge, but places are limited. Please RSVP by 18 November 2025 by sending an email to infoknir.it. Kindly specify which part(s) of the conference you plan to attend, if not the entire programme.

More information and Zoom registration for the Keynote Lecture is available via bit.ly/Rethinking-Maratti.