The journey to Rome of Antonio Manuel Ne Vunda (1571-1608), the young ambassador of King Álvaro Il of Congo (1587-1614), was beset by many vicissitudes. Ne Vunda set out from the Kingdom of Congo in 1604, and during his journey was robbed by Dutch pirates before reaching Lisbon wounded and almost naked. The Spanish crown, which frowned on any contact between Congo and the Holy See, detained the ambassador in the Iberian Peninsula for about three years. However, in December 1607 Ne Vunda finally managed to reach Rome, although by now seriously ill. Pope Paul V received him with great ceremony and, deeply affected by his death on the Eve of Epiphany in 1608, commissioned a sumptuous monument for the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
This bust greats the visitor at the entrance to the fascinating exhibition ‘Barocco Globale. Il mondo a Roma nel secolo di BerninI’, currently at Rome’s Scuderie del Quirinale. A show that seeks to place seventeenth century Rome in its global context, exploring issues of colonialism, power, religion and race in a truly thoughtful and sensitive manner, without recourse to either stereotyping or polemics. To celebrate this engaging exhibition my posts this week will be exploring some of the most eye catching exhibits and their stories.
The Arts of Golden Age Spain and the Hispanic World 