Agostino Chigi

Agostino Chigi

Agostino Chigi (August 28 1465 - April 11 1520) was an Italian banker of the Renaissance.

Born in Siena, he was the member of an ancient and illustrious house, the Chigi. He moved to Rome around 1487, collaborating with his father Mariano. The heir of a rich fund of capital, and enriched further after loaning huge amounts of money to Pope Alexander VI (and to other rulers of the time as well) he also obtained lucrative monopolies like the salt monopoly of the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples, as well as that of the alum excavated in Tolfa, Agnato and Ischia di Castro. Alum was an essential mordant in the textile industry.

After the death of the Borgia pope, Alexander VI, he helped Pope Julius II: the latter rewarded him, linking Chigi to the della Rovere family, and creating him treasurer and notary of the Apostolic Camera. Agostino established economic ties with the whole of Western Europe, at one time having up to 20,000 employees, receiving from Siena the title of "Magnifico" ("Magnificent").In Rome, the villa he built in Trastevere bears the name of its later owners: Villa Farnesina ("illustration, left"). Chigi became also a rich patron of art and literature, the protector of Pietro Aretino among others. His mistress Imperia was the toast of Rome. His artistic protegés included almost all the main figures of the early sixteenth century: Perugino, Sebastiano del Piombo, Giovanni da Udine, Giulio Romano, Sodoma and Raphael. With the exception of Perugino, these figures were called upon to provide the decoration of his splendid villa built on the shore of the Tiber, which today, having passed to the Farnese, is known as Villa Farnesina. Here Raphael frescoed his "Triumph of Galatea". Here Chigi held sumptuous repasts. In order to show his contempt of money, he was said to have all the silver dishes thrown into the river after the end of the parties: however, his servants were secretly ready to recollect them with nets draped under the windows.

Chigi commissioned from Raphael the construction of the Chigi Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in which the banker was buried after his death in 1520. Another family chapel was built and frescoed by Raphael in Santa Maria della Pace.

ee also

*Chigi family


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  • Agostino Chigi — (* 29. November 1466 in Siena; † 11. April 1520 in Rom), il Magnifico (der Prächtige), war ein päpstlicher Bankier in der Renaissance. Er war außerdem Unternehmer und Mäzen. Er gehörte zur Familie Chigi (heute Chigi Albani), aus der auch Papst… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Chigi — bezeichnet Chigi (Adelsgeschlecht), ein italienisches Adelsgeschlecht aus Siena Palazzo Chigi in Rom, Sitz des italienischen Ministerpräsidenten Palazzo Chigi (Ariccia) in Ariccia Palazzo Chigi (Formello) in Formello Palazzo Chigi (Viterbo) in… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Chigi —   [ kiːdʒi], römische Adelsfamilie aus Siena, der Papst Alexander VII. entstammte. Bekannt wurde auch Agostino Chigi, genannt »il Magnifico« (»der Prächtige«; * 1465, ✝ 1520), er war der Bankier Alexanders VI., Cesare Borgias, Julius II. und Leos …   Universal-Lexikon

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  • Chigi-Albani family — See the Albani article for other uses of that name Chigi Albani is a Roman princely family of Sienese extraction descended from the counts of Ardenghesca, which possessed castles in the Maremma, southern Tuscany. The earliest authentic mention of …   Wikipedia

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  • Chigi Family — ▪ Sienese family       a Sienese family that rose from banking in the 13th century to princely rank in papal Rome and in the Holy Roman Empire in the 17th century.       The first member of the family to win more than local eminence was Agostino… …   Universalium

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