Clement XII is shown wearing a camauro cap, mozzetta and a wide stole ornamented with tendril motifs and the symmetrically repeated coat of arms of the Corsini family, with tiara and keys. Although the sculpture is unsigned and it is not mentioned in documentation relating to Bracci’s work, it can be linked to the Roman master both because of the artist’s characteristic realistic rendering of the subject—he does not conceal the subject’s advanced age or ugly traits—as well as the strong ties between the sculptor and the pope. Bracci made two statues depicting Clement XII seated: the first, made for the Piazza del Popolo in Ravenna, was completed in 1738 (now in the Museo Nazionale), while the second, dating from 1739/1740, was at the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Capitoline Hill until 1798. Furthermore, the artist was actively involved in the decoration of the Corsini Chapel in the Basilica of St John Lateran commemorating the pope’s family. The bronze bust of Clement XII in the sacristy of the same church has for several years also been associated with Bracci. The bust in the Royal Castle is closest to the bust of Clement XII in the Villa Borghese in Rome, also unsigned, which Faldi attributed to Bracci based on stylistic characteristics. Similarities in the rendering of the composition as a whole as well as the details (the folds of the mozzetta and camauro, the relief on the stole), can be seen when comparing the Warsaw bust with Bracci’s sculpted portrait of the previous pope, Benedict XIII, in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. The sculpture was formerly in a private collection in Rome; identified by Andrzej Ciechanowiecki in the 1970s. 1980 – gift of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Pietro Bracci (Rome 1700–1773 Rome) Sculptor from Rome; an outstanding representative of the last stages of the mature Baroque. Pupil of Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari and Camilo Rusconi; president of the Accademia di San Luca. Author of the Neptune group in the Trevi Fountain, the tombstones of Benedict XIV and Maria Klementyna Sobieska in St. Peter’s Basilica, Benedict XIII in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva and the relief depicting St. John the Baptist in the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Clement XII, born Lorenzo Corsini (1652–1741), titular bishop of Nicodemia. Papal nuncio to Vienna, cardinal from 1706, elected pope in 1730. He founded the Corsini Library, and wanted to open a museum on the Capitoline Hill. In 1738 he condemned Free Masonry and forbid Roman Catholics to become members of the movement.