MONTE, FRANCESCO MARIA BOURBON DEL

MONTE, FRANCESCO MARIA BOURBON del. — Cardinal, born in Venice on 5 July 1549 to Ranieri dei marchesi del Monte di S. Maria, count of Monte Baroccio and of Minerva Pianosa, died in Rome on 27 August 1626. He was a referendary of both Signatures when, on 14 December 1588, he was created by Sixtus

V cardinal deacon of S. Maria in Domnica, to oblige Ferdinando dei Medici, who had renounced the cardinalate (October 1588) for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

del M. had been educated in a highly cultivated milieu: Tiziano had been his baptismal sponsor. Prefect of the Congregation of Rites, he was relator for the canonizations of ss. Ignazio Lojola, Francesco Saverio,

Filippo Neri, Isidoro, and Eleonora di Portogallo. An aesthete and patron, he was an excellent prefect of the Fabbrica di S. Pietro and earned particular merit for the interior decoration of the Basilica. His importance for the formation of early Baroque taste in Rome is considerable; indeed, he was able to appreciate the art of Caravaggio and became his first protector, saving him from poverty and securing for him the opportunity to paint the canvases of the Contarelli chapel in S. Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, one of his early works. He also protected other sculptors and painters, among them Andrea Sacchi. He was bishop of Ostia and dean of the S. Collegio when he died at the age of 77.