Portrait of Francesco Righetti 1628

Guercino painted this portrait of Francesco Righetti in oils, but we don’t know exactly when. The sitter, Righetti, holds a book, and more books are displayed behind him, signaling the importance of humanist scholarship in the Italian baroque. Righetti was a legal professional. During this time, law schools were vital institutions for the cultivation of political elites. His dark robes and white collar suggest that he was a lawyer in the papal court. The books behind him signal his deep knowledge of canon law. The titles on the spines of the books are visible and reference collections of legal opinions. Righetti is a man of the church, but he is also a man of the world. To understand this image better, we must look at the history of legal institutions in the early modern period. Art historians consult archival sources to understand the social context of images like this.