Inv. Scu 1201

In 1635, the Conservators commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to make the large statue of Pope Urban VIII Barberini for a payment of 2000 scudi. The statue was completed in 1640.

The sculpture was placed in the centre of the main wall of the Hall on the Horatii and Curiatii, where in 1638-1639 the Cavalier d’Arpino had completed the pictorial decoration of the hall.

The statue was placed between the scene of the Battle of the Horatii and Curiatii and that of the Battle of Tullus Hostilius against the Veientes and the Fidenates.

It was removed from its original location in 1798, at the time of the French occupation.

After a restoration carried out in 1816, upon the wishes of Pius VII, it was relocated in the short side of the hall, on a new base, in place of the lost bronze honorary statue of Sixtus V (1585-1590) made by Taddeo Landini, destroyed by the French during the dramatic events in 1798.