Portret van Jaime Fabretti, 71ste Minister Generaal van de franciscaner orde 1710 - 1738

Antonio Luciani made this engraving of Jaime Fabretti, the 71st Minister General of the Franciscan Order, likely in the late 17th or early 18th century. Consider the public role of this image. Fabretti is framed within an oval and set above a descriptive plaque, a format echoing ancient Roman portrait busts that were designed to convey a sense of dignity and importance. The text below the image celebrates Fabretti’s accomplishments as a leader and benefactor of the Franciscan order. This portrait performs a specific kind of work, reinforcing the power and prestige of the Franciscan order, an international organization with a long and complex history. To better understand this image, historians would need to research the visual codes of religious portraiture in the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as the history of the Franciscan order and its relationship to the social and political structures of its time. Only then we can fully grasp the image’s meaning and significance.