This book examines the intellectual, cultural, political, and social context of papal art during the first quarter of the eighteenth century. Separating the early eighteenth century from the context that created the Roman Baroque, this study posits that the cultural programme of Pope Clement XI Albani redirected papal art patronage away from individualism and toward the institutional emphasis that still characterises the Papacy as a cultural and spiritual entity. This book will be of interest to historians of Italian art, architecture, culture, and preservation as well as to those interested in the history of the Papacy and Italian intellectualism.